
Class _. 
Book_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



G- 



P 4,^ 



THE 



PILGKIM FATHERS 



NEW ENGLAND: 



/-.^ 




A HISTORY. 



BY W. CARLOS MARTYN; 

AUTHOR OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN MLTON, A HISTORY 
OF THE ENGLISH PURITANS, ETC. 



'What sought they there, whose steps were on the dust 
Of the old forest lords? Not summer skies, 
Nor genial zephyrs, nor the amenities 
Of golden spoils. Their strength was in the trust 
That breasts all billows of the abyss of time. 
The Rock of Ages, and its hopes sublime." 

American Souvekib. 




^. 



'./3.M: 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YOEK. 



^.^>r 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18G7, by 
the Ameeican Teact Society, in the Clerk's Office of the District 
Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. 



21 2 ^\ 




PREFACE. 



Lord Bacon assigns tlie highest meed of earthly 
fame to the biiilders of states, condUores imperiorum. 
The Pilgrim Fathers were members of that guild, and 
their story belongs to the heroic age of America. "No 
other state," remarks Stonghton, "can boast of such an 
origin, and adorn its earliest annals with a tale as true 
as it is beautiful, as authentic as it is sublime." 

But aside from the honor which attends the Fore- 
fathers as the founders of empire, they march down the 
ages crowned with richer and more fragrant laurels ; 
for they built not for themselves or for posterity alone, 
in imitation of Romulus, and Cyrus, and Csesar, and 
Ottoman ; they planted also for justice and for God. 

Therefore they are the rightful heirs of the benedic- 
tions of mankind ; while to Americans they are doubly 
precious as "the parents of one-third of the whole white 
population of the Republic." 

Of course, the career of the Pilgrim Fathers has been 
often painted : but the interest of the story is inexhaust- 
ible, and its thrilling incidents exhibit the wisdom, the 
benevolence, the faithfulness of God in so many glo- 
rious and delightful aspects, and are so replete with 
facts whose inevitable tendency is to inflame the love, 
strengthen the faith, and awaken the wondering grati- 
tude of the human heart, that it is impossible to wear 
the " twice-told tale " threadbare by repetition. Besides, 
a thoughtful scholar, who has himself laid his garland 
of everlasting upon the altar of the Pilgrims, has re- 



4 PREFACE. 

minded us that, "hoAvevei- well history may haye been 
written, it is desirable that it should be re-written from 
time to time by those who look from an advanced posi- 
tion, giving in every age to the peculiar and marked 
developments of the past, a simple, compact, and pic- 
turesque representation." 

This sketch runs back to the cradle of Puritanism ; 
summarily rehearses the causes of which it was begot- 
ten ; accompanies the Pilgrim Fathers across the chan- 
nel, and depicts the salient features of their residence 
in Holland, and the reasons which pushed them to 
further removal ; sails with them in the " Mayflower " 
over the stormy winter sea ; recites in some detail, the 
incidents which accompanied the settlement at Plym- 
outh and the kindred colonies throughout New Eng- 
land ; and closes in the sunshine of that league between 
the New England colonies which was the prophecy of 
the Republic; and the crowning glory of those who are 
distinctively called the Pilgrim Fathers. 

The volume has been carefully written, and it is 
fortified by co23ious marginal notes and citations from a 
wide range of authoritative authors, from the humblest 
diarist to the most pretentious compiler who struts in 
the rustling satin of histor3^ 

This is "a round unvarnished tale," and aims at fair- 
ness of statement, not copying that dealer in history' 
whom Lucian derides for always styling the captain of 
his own party an Achilles, and the leader of the oj^posi- 
tion a Thersites. Nor does it enter the "debateable 
ground" of sectarian polity ; but avoiding alike the 
Scylla of indiscriminate encomium, and the Charybdis 
of controversy, it merely reproduces the broad and un- 
questioned facts of an emigration whose purpose and 
whose I'esult was to 

"Win the wilderness for God." 

New York, January, 1867. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Spiritual Forces and the Motors of Materialism— English Puritan- 
ism—Its Conflicts with the Dramatic Eeligion of the Popes — 
Aspiration— The Modern Era— The Recast Ecclesiasticism — 
Two Parties in the New-modelled English Church — The Puri- 
tans — The Conformists — The Error of the Church-and-state 
Eeformers— The Epic of our Saxon Annals — Britain, emanci- 
pated from the Pope, hugs the Popedwn— Persecution^The 
Separatists — Their Disappointment — The Separatists of the 
North of England — Division in the Protestant World — The 
Philosophy of Luther — Calvin's Rationale — The Separatists ad- 
here to Calvin— The Eaid for Exact Conformity — The Pilgkim 
Fatheks prepare to quit the Island — Pilgrim Traits — Obsta- 
cles—The AttemptedExodus— Treachery— The Pilgrims "rifled 
by the Catclnjole Officers" — Imprisonment — The Second At- 
tempt—The Eendezvous — A Midnight Scene by the Sea-shore — 
Arrival of the Ship — The Stranded Barque — The Captain's 
Alarm— The Ship sails — The Deserted Dear Ones on Shore — 
A Woful Picture— Captured— The Storm— Holland at last- 
Reunion PAGE 17 

CHAPTER II. 

The Quays of Amsterdam— Quaint Aspect of the City— Its His- 
tory — The Pilgrims and the Dutch Burghers— Strange Charac- 
teristics of Dutch Social Life— The Pilgrims go to Work — Their 
Employments — The Removal to Leyden— Reason of the Change 
of Residence— Ley den — Its Thrilling Story— The Exiles "raise 
a Competent and Decent Living "'—They "enjoy much Sweet 
Society and Spiritual Comfort together in the Ways of God " — 
John Robinson— Elder Brewster — The Pilgrims grow in Knowl- 
edge and Gifts— Their Discipline— Robinson's Wisdom — The 
Exiles win the Cordial Love and Respect of the Dutch — An 



6 CONTENTS. 

lUiistiatiou — Testimony of the Leyden Magistrates — The Con- 
troversy — -Robinson and Episcopius^The Debate — "Famons 
Victory" of the English Divine — Eeformed Churches of the 
Continent — Catholicity of the Pilgrims — Their Bias towards 
Religious Democracy — Peregrini Deo curm 37 

CHAPTER III. 

Many Circiimstances conspire to render the Exiles anxious and 
uneasy in Holland — They ' ' know that They are but Pilgrims " — 
The Projected Removal from the Low Countries — Their 
"Weighty Reasons" — A Grand Germ of Thought — The New 
World — Career of Maritime Discovery — The Pilgrim Council— 
The Debate — The Argument of the Doubters — The Ajjostles 
of the Future — Ho, for America — The Decision 52 

CHAPTER IV. 

Pilgrim Prayers — "Where shall we plant our Colony" — "Large 
Offers" of the Dutch — Determine to settle in "the most North- 
ern Part of Virginia" — The two English Emigration Compa- 
nies — The Envoys — Their Return — The Letter of Robinson 
and Brewster — The Virginia Company and King James — Two 
Questions — The "Formal Promise of Neglect" — The "Mer- 
chant-adventurers " — Terms of the Compact — Republicanism 
of the Pilgrims — Robinson's Sermon— Who shall sail with the 
" Forlorn Hope ?" — The Past — Robinson's Farewell — The 
"Sjoeedwell" and the "Mayflower" — "Good-by, Leyden" — 
' ' Adieu, Friends " — The ' ' Yo hoy " of the Seamen - 61 

CHAPTER V. 

At Southampton — The Abortive Departure — The Number of 
Voyageurs "winnowed" — Final Embarkation — The "Floating 
Village" — On the Atlantic — OiDcniug of Robinsoii's Letter of 
Advice — The Seaborn Government — All Hail, Democracy! — 
Carver elected Governor — The Pilgrims propose to laud — The 
Captain's Mistake— Geography of the Wilderness — The Unsea- 
worthy Shallop — The Sixteen Scouts — Miles Standish — On 
Shore — First Drink of New England AVater — The Mysterious 
Mound — The Hidden Corn — Pilgrim Conscientiousness — Re- 
turn of the Explorers — In the Shallop — The Dawn of Winter — 
Renewed Search for a Landing Spot — First Encounter with the 
Indians — "Woaih imch liaha hach icoach" — The Breakers — First 
Christian Sabbath in the New World — Plymouth Rock — 77 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Pilgrims decide to settle at Plymoxith — The Landing — The 
First Law — The Pioneers at Work — Plan of the Town — The 
Weather — Satisfaction of the Pilgi-ims with the Site of their 
Colony — The Journal — Pilgrim Traits — A Page from Cotton 
Mather — The Frenchman's Prophecy — Social Ai-rangements— 
Standish chosen Captain — Births and Deaths— The Block Cita- 
del — Isolation of the Pilgrims — Combination of Circumstances 
which in-oduced the Settlement of Pljanonth in 1620 90 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Early Spring of 1621 — The Pilgi-ims Biioyant and Hopeful — 
Planting — In the Woods — The Tyro Hunters —A Forest Adven- 
ture — The Storm — On the Skirts of the Settlement — ' ' Welcome, 
Enghshmen" — The Solitary Indian — His Entertainment — Sam- 
oset's Story — Valuable Information — The Kidnapi^er — The 
Nausets — Pilgrim Description of Samoset — "What shall we do 
with our Dusky Guest?" — Samoset's Embassy — His Return — 
Squanto — His Romantic History— Massasoit — The Redman and 
the Pale-face — Negotiations — The Treaty — Its Faithful Observ- 
ance — A Picture of Massasoit — Billiugton's Offence— The Lack- 
ey-duelists — Death — Frightful Mortality — Burial-hill — Death of 
Governor Carver — Bradford elected Governor — Departure of 
the ' ' JMayflower " — Feeling of the Pilgrims — The ' 'Orphans of 
Humanity" - 98 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Pilgrim Panacea — The Summer — The Prospect — Wild Fowl, 
Shell-fish, and Berries — A Glimpse at Plymouth in 1621 — The 
Pioneers open the Volume of Nature — Lessons in Woodcraft—- 
Bradford and the Deer-trap — Explorations — The Embassy to 
Massasoit — Its Object— The Indian Guide — The Pause at Na- 
masket — A New ' ' Kind of Bread " — The ' ' Deserted Village " — 
The Wigwam ' ' Palace " of Massasoit — Presents — The Sachem 
and the Horseman's Coat — The "Pipe of Peace" — The Saga- 
more's Cordiality — -Massasoit's Housekeei^ing — A FuU Bed — 
Indian Games — The Feast — The Return — Honorable and Ami- 
cable Treatment of the Indians by the Pilgrim Fathers — Ad- 
vantages of this Course — Barbarism makes an Obeisance to 
Civilization — End of the Indian's Lease of Ages of the Forest — 
The New Tenant takes Possession in the Name of God and 
Liberty 110 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Lost Boy— The Searchiug Party— lu the Shallop— The Water 
spout — The Bivouac — Visitors at the Camp-fire — The Indian 
Hag — Her Strange Emotion — The Kidclle solved— JS'm Houte 
again — The Lost Boy found — His Adventures — A Startling Pai- 

. mor — The Hasty Return — Intrigues — The Narragansetts — 
Squanto, Tokamahamon, and Habbamak — Corbitant's Wiles — 
The Runner's News — Departure of Stan dish and his "Army" 
of Fourteen Men— The Forest March— On the War-trail— The 
Sleeping Village — The Bloodless Assault — "Friend, Friend" — 
Flight of Corbitant— Safety of Squanto and Tokamahamon — 
Homeward — Good Effect of the Bloodless Raid — Heroism and 
Kindness of the Pilgrims— The Midnight Expedition of Miles 
Standish — Boston Bay, and the River Charles — The "Har- 
vest Home" — "New England's First Fruits" — Building at 
Plj'mouth — The Variety of Game— The First Thanksgiving — 
"Free Range" - - 121 

CHAPTER X. 

The Strange Sail — "Is it a Frenchman, or a Buccaneer?" — War- 
like Preparations — The English Jack — Joy of the Pilgrims — 
Arrival of the "Fortune" — News from Home— The Reinforce- 
ment — A Moment of Sadness — The Letter Budget — The London 
Company under a Cloud— Course of the King— A Technical 
Difficulty— The New Patent —Weston's Complaint and Brad- 
ford's Reply— Departure of the "Fortune" — Cush man's Ser- 
mon—The Bane of Plantations— Winslow's Letter Home— Hil- 
ton's Missive — Social Life and Wants of the Pilgrim Fathers— 
The "Fortune's ". Mishap - - 134 

CHAPTER XI. 

Provisions for the New-comers — Danger of Famine — Hardships — 
Patient Spirit of the Pilgrims — Brewster's Submission— Jio?-afc 
of the Colony — Some "Lewd Fellows of the Baser Sort" get 
"shuffled" into the "Mayflower's" Company— Character of the 
Recent Reinforcement — Bradford's Government — The Laws — 
Bradford and the "Tender Consciences" — The ControUing 
Element — Homogeneity Ii4 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Salient Features of the Colonial Government — The "Proper 
Democracy"— The Course of England— The Governor— The 
Council— The Legislative Body— Test of Citizenship- Reasons 



CONTENTS. 9 

and Excuses for It — Early Decrees — The Jury Trial — First 
Laws — The Digest — Provision for Education— The Old Statute 
Book of the Colonj' — -Unique Legislation — First Marriage in 
New England — Marriage a Civil Contract 149 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Second Winter in the Wilderness — Faith as a IMotor — Anxiety — 
The Lidiau and the Package— A Prisoner — The Kiddle Solved — 
The Mysterious Eattlesnake Skin — Defensive Measures — First 
"General Muster" in New England — The Exi^edition and the 
Alarm — Habbamak's Confidence — The Squaw-scout — No Dan- 
ger — The Expedition resumed — Squauto's Freaks — The Boast 
of a Travelled Indian — The Buried Plague — The Cheat un- 
cloaked — Hunger — The Boat and the Letter-bag — Cold Coni- 
• fort — Dissensions among the Merchant-adventurers in Lon- 
don — Bradford's Comments 156 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Arrival of the "Charity" and the "Swan" — The News — Weston's 
Desertion — The Situation in England — ^In a Quandary — The 
Pilgrims entertain Weston's Eival Colony — Word brought of a 
Massacre in Virginia — AVinslow's Mission to the Coast of 
Maine — The Double Benefit — Morale of the Westonians — They 
finally settle at Wessagusset — Their Lazy Mismanagement — 
Bradford's Kebuke — The Forayers — Bradford's Walk of Fifty 
Miles — Death of Squauto— The Lean Harvest — The English 
Trading Ship — Progress in Building at Plymouth — How the 
Pilgrims went to Church 1G8 

CHAPTER XV. 

Aifairs at Wessagusset — Expostulations and Appeals of the Pil- 
grims — An Anecdote — Reported Sickness of Massasoit — Pilgrim 
Embassy to visit Him — On the Way — The Death Song — Corbi- 
tant's Lodge — At Massasoit's Wigwam — The Pow-wows — Wins- 
low and the Sachem — The Cure — Massasoit discloses a Con- 
spiracy — The Ptcturn — The Envoys and Corbitaut — A Shrewd 
Sagamore — How the Pilgrims communicated Religious Tnith — 
Deliberation at Plymoiith — A Frightened Messenger from Wes- 
sagusset — The Expedition of Miles Standish — Standish and 
the Westonians — Sad Condition of that Colony — The Plot dis- 
closed — Indian Braggadocio — The Two Knives — The Little 
Man and the Big Man — Patience of Standish — The Death- 
grapple — Habbamak's Comment — The Skirmish — The "Capital 
Exialoit " of Miles Standish — The Westonians abandon Wessa- 
1* 



10 CONTENTS. 

gusset — End of a Colony whose "Main End was to catch 
Fish" — Wetawamat's Head — A Liberation — News of the Baffled 
Conspiracy reaches Leyden — Robinson's Fine Comment — 
Strength and Weakness - - 178 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Mysterious Blacksmith — Weston at Plymouth — A Favor — 
Ingi-atitude — Continued Famine at Plymouth — The Commu- 
nity of Interest — How it worked — Its Paitia-l Abandonment — 
Facts brain Plato's Theory — Bradford's Argument against the 
Communal Idea — The Pilgrims rest on Providence — Their Shifts 
to live — The Drought — The Fast — The Answered Prayer — 
Eain at last — Habbamak's Pemai-ks — Five Kernels of Corn — 
A Package of Home Letters — Pierce's Patent — -He "vomits it 
up" — Caiitain Francis West — New Eecruits — The "Annie" 
and the "Little James" — -Feeling among the New-comers. — 
Cushman's Epistle — A Prescient Scribe - - 193 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Lading of the "Anne" — Winslow departs for England — 
Plenty once more — Social Arrangements — Robert Gorges — 
Birth and Death of Another Colony at Wessagusset — Morrel's 
Latin Poem — Prosperity of Plymouth — An Election — The 
Mishaps of a Fishing Expedition — Prei)arations for Planting — 
Winslow's Return — What he brought — The Piu'pose and Ani- 
mus of the London Company of Merchant-adventurers — John 
Lyford — Circumstances of his Advent — John Oldham — The 
Pernicious League — Onslaught upon the Pilgrim Government — 
Wolves in the Sheepfold — The Intercepted Letters — An Explo- 
sion — "Oldham "tametl" — Lyford's Trial — The Sentence — 
Winslow's Ktpose in England and America — Running the 
Gauntlet — -Banishment of Lyford and Oltlham — Effect of the 
Lyford Troubles — BreM'ster's Llinistry — An Exception to the 
Indian Doctrine of "Poor Pay, Poor Preach" — Tenets of the 
Plymoi;th Church — "Brown Bread and the Gospel is Good 
fai-e "—Liberty --- - --- 205 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Pilgrims initiate Measures to b\iy out the Merchant-adven- 
turers — Standish sails for England on this Errand — His Nar- 
row Escape from Capture by a Turkish Rover — His Partial 
Success and Return — Sad News — Death of Cushman in Eng- 
land — Death of Robinson at Leyden — Last Hours and Charac- 
ter of the Moses of the Pilgrims -— 227 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Progress of Population at Plymouth — Smith's Report — A Leaf from 
Bradford's Journal — Pioim;lus and Eome ; Plymoiith and the 
Pilgrims— The Winter of 1G26-7— AUerton's Embassy to Eng- 
land — His Success — The "Undertakers" — The New Organiza- 
tion — Plan of Division — Habbamak's Grant — First Coveted 
Luxury of the Emancipated Colonj' — AUerton's Second Mis- 
sion — Provision made for the Trans^Dortation of the Remainder 
of the Leyden Congregation — Patent for Land on the Kenne- 
bec — The New Trading Station — A Crazy Clergyman — Catho- 
licity of the Plymouth Chi;rch — Wide Range of the Pilgrim 
Enterprise — Commerce opened with the Dutch at New Amster- 
dam — Isaac de Rasieres at Plymouth — Wampum — The Pilgrim 
Settlement as seen throxigh the Eyes of a Dutchman — Joyous 
Arrival of the Lej'den Exiles — How They were received — Mount 
Wollaston — Thomas Morton turns it into a Den of Riot and 
Debauchery — Grief of the Pilgrims — Expostulation — Affront- 
End of an Experimentum C'ruds of Immorality — The Pilgrims 
find "All Things working together for their Good" - 232 

CHAPTER XX. 

English Politics — The Puritans and the Pilgrims — Multitudes in 
Britain jirepare for Emigration — Roger Conant — Old John 
White of Dorchester — The Point d'^4pp«i — White's Message — 
Conant's Determination — Agitation at London — A New Scheme 
for Puritan Emigration — It is patronized by Men of Substance 
and "Gentlemen born" — The Lock opened by the Silver 
Key — A Patent — John Endicott leads a Colony into New Eng- 
land — Salem settled — The English Hermit — Individuality of 
the Saxon Race — The Explorers colonize Charlestown — News 
of Endicott's Success in England — Incorjioration of the Massa- 
chusetts Company — Its Powers — An Old Legend 219 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Organization of the Massachusetts Company — A Unique Letter of 
Instruction to Endicott — The Soil ordered to be purchased 
of the Indian Owners^ — A Blast against Tobacco — The Colonial 
Seal — Preparations for the Embarkation of Fresh Emigrants — 
Buckingham — Straflford^— Laud — Puritans Eager to Emigrate — 
The Flotilla— The Plentiful Provision of " Godly Ministers"— 
Bright — Smith — Higginson — Skelton — ' ' Farewell, Dear Eng- 
land" — Britain does not know her Heroes — The Landing at 
Salem — Higginson's Imjiressions — The Pilgrims plant a Church 
at Salem — Cordial Relations opened with the Plymouth Colo- 



12 CONTENTS. 

nists — Endicott's Letter to Bradford— An Additional Link in 
the Chain of Friendshi2) — Ordination of Higginson and Skel- 
ton — The Ceremony — Bradford's Tardy Arrival — The Confes 
sion of Faith — Birth of the Theocracy — Dissatisfaction of the 
Church of England men at Salem — The Brothers Brown — 
Breach of the Peace imminent — Endicott sends the Browns 
home to England— Endicott cautioned by the Massachusetts 
Company - 2G0 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The New Colony outstrips Plymouth — Intense Interest in the 
Colonies felt in England — Higginson's Tract — Men of Wealth 
and Position prej^are to emigrate — One Thing makes Them 
Hesitate — Character of the Charter — The "Open Sesame" — 
Alienation of the Government of the Company — A Daring Con- 
struction changes a Trading Corporation into a Provincial 
Government — Joy of the Would-be Emigrants— The Election — 
An Extensive Emigration set Afoot — The Fleet of Ten Vessels — 
In the Cabin of the "Arbella" — Winthrop — Diidley — Hum- 
phrey — Johnson — Saltonstall — Eaton — Bradstreet— Vassall — 
The Women of the Enterprise — The Lady Arbella Johnson — 
The Farewell at Yarmouth — On the Atlantic 274 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

"Land ho!" — The Supper at Salem— Sickness — Explorations— 
The Settlement at Cambridge — Biisy Days — Death — The Last 
Hours of Francis Higginson — Death of Ai-bella Johnson — Grief 
and Death of her Husband — The Mortality List — Cambridge 
partially Deserted — Settlement of Boston — The Original Oc- 
cupant of Shawmut Peninsula — Blackstone's Oddities — The 
"Lord Bishops" and the "Lord Brethren" — Activity of the 
Colonists — The View from Beacon Hill — Winthrop's Cheery 
Letter to his Wife - - - 286 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Fundamental Law of the Colonies of Massachusetts Bay — Earliest 
Legislation — Firet General Assembly — The Democratic Ten- 
dency — The Test of Citizenship — Beflections — Animadversions 
on the Theocratic Plan — The Acorn and the Oak 293 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Life in the Wilderness — Winthrop's Adventure — The False Alarm — 
The Settlers and the Wolves well frightened — The Courtship 
of Miles Standish — Alden's Wedding — Morton once more at 



CONTENTS. 13 

"Merry Mount" — An Execution — Eadcliff, and his Punish- 
ment — The Mj'sterious Stranger — A Knight of the Holy Sepul- 
chre astray in the Wilderness — The Three Wives — The Pur- 
suit — An Unmasked Jesuit — The "Italian Method" tabooed in 
New England — Satan's Ill-manners — Utopia — A Sentence from 
Demosthenes — Great Combat between a Mouse and a Snake — 
Its Significance — Fresh Arrivals — Eliot — Roger Williams — 
Attachment of the Pilgrims to their Kocky Refuge — How New 
England looked to a Piiritan — How it looked to a Churchman — 
A Difference of Standpoint — The Brood of Townleis — The 
Western Wilds no longer Tenautless 299 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Advance of Civilization — Growth of Plymouth — Ralj^h Smith — 
Winthrop visits Bradford — Gubernatorial Civilities in the Olden 
Time — Leaves from Winthrop's Note-book — The Primitive 
Ferry-boat — Bradford's Mare — The Empty Contribution-box — 
Boundary Quarrel with the French — The Compliments of the 
Gentlemen from the Isle of Rhe — How They were answered — 
The Valley of the Connecticut — Efforts to colonize those Bot- 
tom Lands — Bradford solicits Winthrop to organize a United 
Effort for that Piirpose — The Sachem's Offer — Winthrop's 
Refusal — The Plymoiith Pilgrims determine to enter Connec- 
ticut unassisted — The Dutch attempt to balk Them — The Pil- 
grims colonize Windsor — A few Dvitch Oaths — A War-path which 
ended in a Hug — An Infectious Fever at Plj'mouth — Conse- 
quent Mortality — Some "Strange Flies" — Ebb and Flow of 
the Tide of Emigration — Attempted Emigration of Hazlerigge, 
Pym, Hampden, and Cromwell — They are stojjped by an Order 
in Council — The King's Faux Pas — Three Famous Men em- 
bark for New England, and supply The Great Necessities of 
the Colonists — Haynes — Cotton — Hooker — Title by which the 
Settlers hold their Lands — Progress towards Democracy — Cot- 
ton's Sermon against Rotation in Office — Its Non-effect — Colo- 
nial Authority divided between Two Branches — Law against 
Ai'bitrary Taxation — Representative Republicanism — A Dream 
broken 314 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Pilgrim Fathers and the Mosaic Code — Toleration in the 
Seventeenth Century — American and European Thinkers alike 
reject it — Arrival of Roger Williams at Boston — His Motives 
for Emigration — His Hopes and Views — Sjaeedily attracts At- 



14 CONTENTS. 

tention — His Devotion to the Principle of Toleration — His 
Advocacy of it places Him in Direct Opposition to the System 
on which Massachusetts is founded — Under the Frown of the 
Authorities — Williams refuses to join the Boston Church — His 
Declaration — Statement of his Idea of Toleration — The Pilgi-ims 
regard Him as a Dangerous Heresiarch with "a Windmill in 
his Head " — Consternation at Boston on the Rumor of Williams' 
Instalment in the Place of Higginson at Salem — Winthrop's 
Letter of Expostulation — The Salem Church does not heed it — 
Williams begins to preach — Quits Salem for Phinouth — Brad- 
ford's Estimate of the Young Welchman — Williams cements a 
Lasting and Cordial Friendship with the Indians — Eeturns to 
Salem on Skelton's Death^Becommeucement of his Struggle 
with the Colonial Government — His Pam^^hlet on the Charter — 
His Retraction — Ought Women to appear Veiled at Church ? — 
Williams says Yes, Cotton says No — Cotton convinces the 
Ladies — The English Commission for the Regulation of the 
Colonies — The Pilgrims decide to "avoid and protract" — En- 
dicott cuts the Cross out of the English Flag — Williams speaks 
against the ' ' Freeman's Oath " — Trouble — Williams' Democ- 
racy — Points of Variance between the Reformer and the 
Colonists — The Citation — Williams before the Court — His 
Frank Defence — Banishment — The Flight throiagh the Winter 
Woods — Animadversions — Months of Vicissitude — Settlement 
of Providence — Williams bases his Colony on Toleration and 
Democracy — Mather's Epigram — Williams makes a Distinc- 
tion between Toleration and License — WilUams' First Visit to 
England — Intimacy with Vane and ]\Iilton — The Second Visit — 
Cromwell and Marvell added to his List of Trans-atlantic 
Friends — Elected on his Return President of the Providence 
Plantations— Excelsior — Williams and the Indians — An Inci- 
dent — Reflections on the Work and Character of Roger Wil- 
liams 334 

CHAPTER XXVIIL 

Progress of New England in IMaterial Prosperity — Arrival of Three 
Thousand Settlers in a Single Year — An Illustrious Trio — ■ 
Hugh Peters — The Younger Winthrop — Sir Harry Vane — A 
Long Smouldering Feud placated — Value which the Pilgrims 
set on Education — Good and Bad Universities — A Public 
School i^lanted at Cambridge — Harvard College — Relations 
between Learning and Manners — Enlarged Colonization of New 
England — The Plymouth Pilgrims at Windsor — The Younger 
Winthrop at Saybrook — Hooker's Parisliioners at Cambridge — 
Petition for "Enlargement or Removal" — The Advance Guard 



CONTENTS. 15 

of Civilization— The New Hesperia of Puritanism — Hooker and 
Haj'ues lead a Colony into Connecticut and settle at Hart- 
ford — Pilgrimage from the Seashore to the " Delightful Banks" 
of the Inland Eiver — Liberality of the New-horu Colony — New 
Haven i^lanted by English Puritans — Colonization of Guilford, 
Milford, and Long Island — Character of these Settlers — Com- 
merce and Agriculture as the Basis of New States — Constitution 
of New Haven — The First Political Paper ever cradled in a 
Manger — The Connectici;t Colonists and the Dutch at New 
Amsterdam quarrel over their Boundary Line — A Yankee 
Buse — The Dutchmen and the Onion Kows — Isolation of the 
New Settlements — The "War-whoop 357 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

The Pilgrims and the Indians — Stern Justice with which the 
Forefathers treated the Aborigines — An Illustration — Murder 
in the Woods — Its Punishment — End of the Epoch of Peace — - 
Keason Why — The Pequods — Uncas — The Pequod Embassy to 
the Narragansetts — The Forests pregnant with Insurrection — 
Vane solicits the Intervention of Roger Williams — The Solitary 
Canoe — Williams in the Wigwam of Miantonomoh — The Pequod 
Diplomats at Work — Williams piishes his Dangerous Oj)posi- 
tion— Old Friendship prevails — The Narragansetts refuse to 
dig up the Hatchet — The Pequods take the War-path alone — 
Sassacus — First Patter of the Coming Storm — A Thrilling 
Scene on the Connecticut River — The Captured Pinnace — 
Border Gallantry — A Unique Naval Battle — How News travelled 
in the Olden Time — Endicott on the Trail — A Pilgrim Friar 
Tuck — Failure — Pandemonium — New England trembles on 
the Verge of Death — Energy of the Colonists — Mason's Ex- 
pedition — The Council of War — The Chaplain's Prayer — Off 
Point Judith— The Landing— The Seaside Bivouac— The Mid- 
night March — The Pequod Village — A ' ' Sound of Revelry by 
Night" — The Indian Fort — The Night Attack — Scenes of 
Horror — The Flight of Sassacus — The Pursuit — The Swamp 
Battle — The Sagamore's Escape — The Gory Scalp-lock — ' ' Sa- 
chem's Head " — Death, and Servitude of the Survivors — Civil- 
ization Victorious — 370 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Pilgrim Exclusiveness — The Old Alien Law — Dissenters swarm 
into Massachusetts Bay — Agitation — The Two Parties— Anne 
Hutchinson — A Commendable Practi.ce — Mrs. Hutchinson's 
Week-day Lectirres — The " Covenant of Works " and the "Gov- 



16 CONTENTS. 

enant of Grace " — Heady Current of Dissension — Horror of the 
Pilgrims — Antinomianism — Familism — The Female Heresi- 
arch — The "Legalists" — Mutual Exasperation — Vane's Dis- 
gust — Wreck of Vane's Administration — Winthrop's Law — 
Vane's EeiDly — The Founders of the Colony regain their Influ- 
ence — Trial of Anne Hutchinson — Cotton and his Protege — 
" Immediate Revelations " — Banishment of the Antinomians — 
Roger "Williams welcomes the Exiles to Providence — Purchase 
and Settlement of Rhode Island — A Happy Result from an 
Unhappy Cause 388 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Law as the Reflection of National Character — Pilgrim Legisla- 
tion—The Homes of New England — Origin of Towns — Town 
Meetings — Dvity of voting — ' ' Prudential Men "■ — An Odd Trait — 
Pilgrims fined for refusing to hold Office — High Character of the 
Early Governors — Bradford — Edward Winslow and Thomas 
Prince — Wiuthrop — Dudley — Vane — Endicott — Other Pivotal 
Men — God's Benediction on New England — 400 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

New England in 1611 — Inhabitants ■ — Villages — Churches — 
Houses — Agriculture — Commerce — Trade — Manufactures — 
Foreign Influence of the Pilgrims — The Tone of New England 
in treating with the Long Parliament during the Civil War — 
Two Rejected Invitations— Consolidation of Colonial Liberty — 
The Oppressed made Guests of the Commonwealth— The Germ 
of Union — The United Colonies of New England — Character 
of the League — Reflections — Colonial Union the Crowning 
Service of the Pilgrim Fathers to Humanity — The Second 
Generation — The AVork and the Lesson of the Pilgrim Fa- 
thers 415 



THE 

PILGRIM FATHERS 



OF 



NEW ENGLAND. 



CHAPTEE I, 

THE EXODUS. 



••Nothing is here for tears ; nothing to wail 
Or knock the breast ; no weakness, no contempt, 
Dispraise or blame ; nothing bnt well and fair." 

Milton, Samson Agonlsies. 

The influence of that mysterious triad, tlie 
gold eagle, tlie silver dollar, and the copper cent, 
has been overestimated. Spiritual forces are more 
potent than the motors of materialism. The Ser- 
mon on the Mount outweighs the law of gravity. 
Ethics make safer builders than stocks. Two hun- 
dred years ago, commercial enterprise essayed to 
subdue the New World in the interest of greedy 
trade, hungering for an increase; but though offi- 
cered by the brightest genius and the highest daring 
of the age, backed by court favor and bottomed on 
the deepest bank-vaults of London, the effort failed. 



18 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

Where physical forces balked, a moral sentiment 
bore off a trophy. The most prosperous of the 
American colonies were planted by religion. New 
^England is the child of English Puritanism ; and 
yet, paradoxical as it may seem, antedates its birth. 
Men say that the history of New England dates 
from 1620. 'T is a mistake. New England was in 
the brain of Wickliffe when, in the infancy of Brit- 
ain, he uttered his first protest against priestcraft 
and pronounced the Christianity of Eome a juggle. 
New England, in esse, was born in that chill Decem- 
ber on Plymouth Eock; New England, in posse, was 
cradled in the pages of the first printed copy of 
the EngHsh Bible. 

Soil does not make a state; nor does geograph- 
ical position. That spot of ground which men call 
Athens does not embrace the immortal city. It 
bears up its masonry; but the Athens of Socrates 
and of Plato exists in the mind of every scholar. 
The intellectual and moral elements which enter 
into and shape it, these are the real state. In this 
sense, New England was in the pages of the Puri- 
tan publicists, in the psalms of the Lollards, and in 
the pra^-ers of Bradwardine, centuries before that 
winter's voyage into the dreary wilderness. 

Society, government, law, the graces of civil- 
ity, the economic formulas, are growths. " Books, 
schools, education," says Humboldt, " are the scaf- 
folding by means of which God builds up the human 
soul." There are no isolated facts. Events do not 
occur at hajD-hazard. Each effect has its cause ; it 



THE EXODUS. 19 

may lie buried beneath many blinding strata, so 
that it must be dug for, but it exists. 

Puritanism was not a sudden creation. It did 
not croj) out of the sixteenth century unexpectedly, 
and begin to impeach formalism without a cause. 
It was a growth. " It was as old as the truth and 
manliness of England. Among the thoughtful aiid 
earnest islanders, the dramatic religion of the j)opes 
had never struck so deep root as in continental 
soil."* Chafed and weary, the people had long 
demanded a purer and more spiritual faith. The 
strong repressive hand of the Vatican was not able 
to stop the mouth of unwearied complaint. Think- 
ers were convinced that Rome had paganized Chris- 
tianity. Christ was banished from all active influ- 
ence. He could only be reached and " touched 
with the feeling of our infirmities" through the 
intercession of saints, who were constantly invoked. 
The popes professed to possess a fund of superero- 
gation, which they might dispense at will ; and this 
became their stock in trade. Salvation by merito- 
rious works was preached. Brokers in souls hawked 
their celestial wares in every market-place. Home, 
an incarnate Pharisee, made broad its phylactery, 
and hid beneath it a dead religion and a corrupt 
.church.f 

From Wickliffe to Tyndale, a few earnest, de- 
vout men had impeached this cheat. But the influ- 

* Palfrey, Hist, of NeW England, vol. 1, p. 101. 

t Perhaps this whole chapter of history is nowhere more graph- 
ically treated than in D'Aubigue's Hist, of the Ref. in the Sixteenth 
Century. 8ce also, Eanke's Hist, of the Popes. 



23 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

ence of these teachers was at best but locaL They 
■were barely able to keep the gospel torch aglow, 
and to pass it down from hand to hand through 
the dusky centuries. The masses were affrighted 
from the pursuit of knowledge by the jingle of the 
rusty and forged keys of St. Peter, which locked 
the storehouse of divine revelation, and barred the 
investigations of the human mind. 

The modern era dawned in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. The invention of printing was the avant cou- 
rier of reform. The reformers gained a fulcrum for 
their lever. Scholars might shake the dust from 
their mouldy folios, and by oj)ening the early rec- 
ords, convict Rome of heresy. Their conclusions 
might then be scattered broadcast on the wings of 
the press. Well might the perturbed ghost of Latin 
Orthodoxy exclaim, 

"Ah, fatal age, wMch gave mankind 
A Luther and a Faustus." 

Bibles were everywhere opened. Reform swept 
from the mountains of Bohemia into Germany; 
crossing the Saxon plains, it entered the Nether- 
lands; thence it passed the channel into England. 
In the island it was received with enthusiasm. The 
government, from personal motives, extended to it 
the hand of fellowship; the people adopted it, be-, 
cause they felt the inadequacy of Romanism to 
meet their religious wants.'^ 

Rome did n-ot strike its flag without a struggle. 
As Demetrius was shocked when Paul, a wandering 

* Uhden, New England Theocracy, p. 15. 



THE EXODUS. 21 

preacher from Tarsus, imjieaclied his Diana, so the 
Vatican j^rofessed to be horrified when the reform- 
ers inveighed against the popedom. "Socrates" — 
so runs the old Grecian indictment — "is gniltj of 
crime for not worshipping tlie gods whom the city 
worship, but introducing new divinities of his own."'- 
The adherents of the ancient faith tacked a similar 
indictment upon the front of the reform. Where they 
dared, they invoked the thumb-screw and kindled an 
auto-da-fe. When they could not fight with these 
congenial weapons, they made faces at their oj)po- 
nents, and hurled epithets. The iconoclasts were 
called " infidels." Hooker and Hales, Stillingfleet, 
and Cudworth, and Taylor were thus stigmatized.f 
And indeed, " this is a cry which the timid, the ignor- 
ant, the indolent, and the venal are apt to raise 
against those who, faithful to themselves, go boldly 
forward, using the past only to show them what the 
present is, and what the future should be." 

These men recast the ecclesiasticism of their 
age. The essence of Romanism was extracted from 
their creed, but many of its forms were retained. 
Then, within the new-built temple of the English 
church, there arose two parties. The Puritans 
demanded the complete divorce of the reformed 
church from Eome, in its ceremonies and in its 
belief. They strove to inaugurate the purity and 
simplicity of what they conceived to be the i^rimi- 
tive worship. They esteemed the retained forms 

" Grote, Hist, of Greece. 

t Preface to Warburton's Divine Legation. 



22 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

to be pregnant with mischief, in that they were the 
badges of their former servitude, and because they 
tended to bridge over the chasm between Home 
and the Reformation.^'' 

At the outset, the Puritans did not quarrel with 
the English Estabhshment ; they all claimed to 
be within its pale,t and many of their leaders 
w^ere men of high ecclesiastical standing, of the 
truest lives, and of the loftiest genius; but they 
held to the spirit rather than to the letter ; to the 
substance of the church, not to its forms.:]: 

The Conformists considered the ceremonies to 
be non-essential; but they desired to retain them, 
partly because they were enamoured of those old 
associations which they symbolized, but chiefly be- 
cause they dreaded the effect of too sudden and 
radical a change upon the peace of the island. Be- 
sides, to facilitate the passage from Romanism to 
the reformed church, they were willing to step to 
the verge of their consciences in the retention of 
the old forms, and in the incorporation of those 
features of the ancient faith into the outward struc- 
ture of the new theology wdiich were not intrinsi- 
cally bad.§ 

* Neale, Hist, of the Puritans. Collier's Church Hist. Hal- 
lam, Const. Hist, of Eng. 

t See "An Account of the Principles and Practices of Several 
Non-conformists, wherein it appears that their religion is no other 
than that which is professed in the Church of England," etc. Ey 
Mr. John Corbet ; London, 1G82. 

X Elliot, Hist, of New Eng., vol. 1, p. 43. 

§ Fuller, Church Hist. Strype, Life of Parker. Heylin, Life 
of Lord Clarendon. 



THE EXODUS. 23 

Unquestionably honest minds might differ in 
this policy. " But certainly the doctrine of the 
Puritans concerning the connection and mutual 
influence between forms and opinions, so far from 
being fanciful or fastidious, had foundations as 
deep as any thing in moral truth or in human na- 
ture. A sentiment determined their course ; but it 
was more cogent than all the learned argument 
which they lavished in its defence. A man of honor 
will not be bribed to display himself in a fool's cap ; 
yet why not in a fool's cap as readily as in any ap- 
parel associated in his mind, and in the minds of 
those whom he respects, whether correctly or not is 
immaterial, with the shame of mummery and false- 
hood ? To these men the cope and surplice seemed 
the livery of Rome. They Avould not put on the 
uniform of that hated power, while they were mar- 
shalling an array of battle against its ranks. An 
ofScer, French, American, or English, would feel 
outraged by a proposal to be seen in the garb of a 
foreign service. The respective wearers of the white 
and tricolor cockades would be more willing to re- 
ceive each other's swords into their bosoms than to 
exchange their decorations. A national flag is a 
feAV square yards of coarse bunting ; but associa- 
tions invest it which touch whatever is strongest 
and deepest in national character. Its presence 
commands an homage as reverential as that which 
salutes an Indian idol. Torrents of blood have 
been poured out age after age to save it from affront. 
The rejection of the cope and mitre was as much 



24 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

the fruit and the sign of the great reality of a reli- 
gious revolution, as a political revolution was beto- 
kened and effected when the cross of St. George 
came down from over the fortresses along fifteen 
degrees of the North American coast"* in '76. 

The contest which ensued between nascent Pu- 
ritanism and the entrenched Conformists was pro- 
longed and bitter. It deeplj^ scarred the history of 
the contemporaneous actors ; and it has shaped the 
ethics and the joolitics of two centuries; nor is its 
force yet spent. Indeed, it may be fitly called the 
epic of our Saxon annals. 

" On the one side, in the outset, Avere statesmen 
desiring first and mainly the order and quiet of the 
realm. On the other side were religious men desi- 
ring that, at all hazards, God might be worshipped 
in purity and served with simplicity and zeal. It 
is easy to understand the perplexities and alarms 
of the former class; but the persistency of their 
opponents is not therefore to be accounted whim- 
sical and perverse. It is impossible to blame them 
for saying, ' If a man believes marriage to be a sac- 
rament in the sense of the popes and the councils, 
let him symbolize it by the giving of a ring ; if he 
believes in exorcism by the signing of the cross, let 
him have it impressed on his infant's brow in bap- 
tism ; if he believes the bread of the Eucharist to 
be God, let him go down on his knees before it. 
But we do not beheve these things, and as honest 
men we will not profess so to believe by act or sign 
• Palfrey, Hist, of New England, vol. 1, p. 113, note. 



THE EXODUS. 25 

any more than by word.' Theirs was no struggle 
against the church, but against the state's control 
over it.""^' 

The fatal error of the church-and-state reform- 
ers was, that they strove to coerce unwilling con- 
sciences into exact conformity with a prescribed 
formula of worship by penal legislation. No lati- 
tude was even winked at. It was a new edition of 
the old story of Procrustes and his iron bed. Brit- 
ain, emancipated from the pope, still hugged the 
popedom. The rulers of the island clutched the 
weapons and enacted the role of the Hildebrandes, 
the Gregorys, and the Innocents of ecclesiastical 
history. Dissent was " rank heresy." Liberty was 
"license." The measure of a conscience was the 
length of a prelate's foot. 

" An act was passed in 1593," says Hoyt, " for 
punishing all who refused to attend the Established 
Church, or frequented conventicles or unauthorized 
assemblies. The penalty was, imprisonment until 
the convicted person made declaration of his con- 
formity ; and if that was not done within three 
months after arrest, he was to quit the realm, and 
go into perpetual banishment. In case he did not 
depart within the specified time, or returned with- 
out license, he was to suffer death."t 

In 1603, when James I. came down from Scot- 
land to ascend the English throne, so stood the law. 
Nor did it rest idle in the statute-book. The parch- 

* Palfrey, Hist, of New England, vol. 1, p, 114. 
f Hoyt, Antiquarian Eesearches. 

Pllsrim Fathevn. 2 



26 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

ment^^a^ was instinct with vicious life. Hecatombs 
of victims suffered under it.* " Toleration," re- 
marks Goodrich, " was a virtue then unknown on 
British ground. In exile alone was security found 
from the pains and penalties of non-conformity to 
the Church of England. "t 

During the pendency of the dissension between 
the Puritans and the Conformists within the bosom 
of the church, many honest thinkers, feeling hope- 
less of success in that unequal conflict, broke from 
their old communion, and set up a separate Ebene- 
zer.:|: Even so early as 1592, Sir Walter Ealeigh, 
speaking in the House of Commons, affirmed that 
these " Come-outers" numbered upwards of twenty 
thousand.§ Since that date, every year had added 
new recruits to their ranks, until, in 1603, they had 
expanded into a wealthy, influential, and puissant 
party in the state.H 

Though socially tabooed and politically ostra- 
cised — though shackled by fierce prohibitory legis- 
lation and by governmental ill-will, the Sej^aratists, 
as they were called, still prayed and hoped, walking 
through persecution with faith in their right hand 
and with patience in their left. At one time they 
thought they could discern a ray of light on the 
sullen horizon which gloomed upon them. James 

* Fuller, Ch. Hist., vol. 3. Eymer's Fcedera, a'oI. 16, p. 69'1. 

t Goodricli, Ch. Hist. 

X Neale, History of the Puritans, vol. 1. Rushworth, Claren- 
clou, etc. § Parliaraeutary History. 

li Strype, Life of Whitgift. Braclshaw, English Puritanisin, 
IGOo. 



THE EXODUS. 27 

I. had been educated in Presbyterian Scotland.* 
He had often hymned the praises of the pohty of 
stout John Knox.f When he crossed the Tweed, 
jubilant Puritanism cried, "Amen," and "All hail." 
Ere long, however, the weak and treacherous Stuart 
deserted his Scottish creed. From that moment he 
hated his old comrades with the peculiar bitterness 
of an apostate. No epithet was vile enough by 
which to paint them. He raked the gutter of the 
English language for phrases. " These Puritans," 
said he, " are pests in the church and common- 
wealth — greater liars and perjurers than any bor- 
der thieves.":]: 

At the Hampton Court Conference — an intel- 
lectual tournament between the representatives of 
the opposing religious parties — the royal buffoon 
affirmed his determination to make the Puritans 
" conform, or harry them out of the land, or else 
worse."§ 

It has been truly said that " the friends of reli- 
gious reform had never seen so hopeless a time as 
that which succeeded the period of the most san- 
guine expectation. In the gloomiest periods of the 
arbitrary sway of the two daughters of Henry VIII., 
they could turn their eyes to a probable successor 
to the throne who would be capable of more reason 
or more lenity. Now nothing better for them ap- 

* Calderwood, True Hist, of the Ch. of Scotland. Perry, Ch, 
Hist., vol. 1. t Ibid, 

t Fuller, Ch. Hist., vol. 3. Hume, Hist, of Eug., etc. , 
§ Barlow's Account of the Hampton Court Conference. A copy 
oJ it is in Harvard college library. Harrington, Nugse Antiquae. 



28 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

peared in the future than the long reign of a prince 
wi'ong-licaded and positive alike from imbecility, 
prejudice, pique, and self-conceit, to be succeeded 
by a dynasty born to the inheritance of the same 
bad blood, and educated in the same perniciou; 
school. It is true that, as history reveals the fact 
to our age, almost -with the reign of the Scottish 
alien that nobler spirit began to animate the House 
of Commons which ultimately" checkmated tyranny 
beneath the scaffold of Charles I. But this astound- 
ing blow was then remote. "As yet the steady 
reaction from old abuses Avas but dimly apparent, 
even to the most clear-sighted and hopeful minds; 
and numbers of devout and brave hearts gave way 
to the conviction that, for such as they, England 
had ceased for ever to be a habitable spot.""- 

Towards the close of Elizabeth's reign, a num- 
ber of yeomen in the North of England, some in 
Nottinghamshire, some in Lincolnshire, some in 
Yorkshire, and the neighborhood of these counties, 
" whose hearts the Lord had touched with heav- 
enly zeal for his truth," separated from the English 
church, "and as the Lord's free people joined them- 
selves, by a covenant of the Lord, into a church 
estate in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all 
his ways made known or to be made known unto 
them, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever 
it should cost, the Lord assisting them, "t 

The Protestant world was at this time divided 

♦ Palfrej', Hist, of New England, vol. 1, p. 131. 

t Bradford, Hist, of the Plymouth Plantation, p. 9. « 



THE EXODUS. 29 

between two regal phases of reform. " Lutlier's 
rationale," says Bancroft, "was based upon the sub- 
lime but simple truth which lies at the bottom of 
morals, the paramount value of character and pu- 
rity of conscience ; the superiority of right disposi- 
tions over ceremonial exactness ; and, as he ex- 
pressed it, 'justification hj faith alone.' But he 
hesitated to deny the real presence, and was indif- 
ferent to the observance of external ceremonies. 
Calvin, with sterner dialectics, sanctioned by his 
power as the ablest writer of his age, attacked the 
Eoman doctrines respecting the communion, and 
esteemed as a commemoration the rite which the 
papists reverenced as a sacrifice. Luther acknowl- 
edged princes as his protectors, and in the ceremo- 
nies of worship favored magnificence as an aid to 
devotion ; Calvin was the guide of Swiss republics, 
and avoided in their churches all appeals to the 
senses as crimes against religion, Luther resisted 
the Eoman church for its immorality ; Calvin for its 
idolatry, Luther exposed the folly of superstition, 
ridiculed the hair-shirt and the scourge, the pur- 
chased indulgence, and the dearly-bought masses 
for the dead ; Calvin shrunk from their criminality 
with impatient horror, Luther permitted the cross, 
the taper, pictures, images, as things of indifference ; 
Calvin demanded a spiritual worship in its utmost 
purity,"- 

The Separatists were ardent Calvinists, They 
esteemed the " offices and calUngs, courts and can- 
* Bancroft, Hist. United States, vol. 1, pp. 277, 278. 



33 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

ons" of tlio Englisli clmrch " monuments of iclol- 
atrj." Those of the North of England, though 
" presently they were scoffed and scorned by the 
profane multitude, and their ministers urged with 
tlie yoke of subscription," yet held " that the lordly 
power of the prelates ought not to be submitted to."* 

In this northern church was "Mr. Eichard Clif- 
ton, a grave and revered preacher, who by his pains 
and diligence had done much good, and under God 
had been the means of the conversion of many ; 
also that famous and worthy man, Mr. John Rob- 
inson, who afterwards Avas their pastor for many 
years, till God called him away by death ; and Mr. 
William Brewster, a reverent man, who afterwards 
was chosen elder of the church, and lived with them 
till old age."t 

In the year 1607 these reformers seem to have 
received the vindictive attention of the government, 
for Bradford makes this record : " After that they 
could not long continue in any peaceable condition, 
but were hunted and persecuted on every side. 
Some were taken and clapped up in prison. Others 
had their houses beset and Avatched night and day. 
The most were fain to fly and leave their houses 
and goods, and the means of their livelihood. Yet 
these things, and many more still sharper, which 
afterwards befell them, were no other than they 
looked for, and therefore they were better able to 
bear them by the assistance of God's grace and 

• Bradford, Hist. Plymoutli Plantation. 

•j- Ibid., Morton's Memorial, Founders of New Plymouth, etc. 



THE EXODUS. 31 

spirit. Nevertheless, seeing themselves thus mo- 
lested, and that there was no hope of peace at home, 
by joint consent they resolved to go into the Low 
Countries, where, they heard, was freedom for all 
men ; as also how sundry from London and various 
parts had been persecuted into exile aforetime, and 
were' gone thither, sojourning at Amsterdam and in 
other cities. So, after they had continued together 
about a year, and kept their meetings every sab- 
bath in one place and another, exercising the wor- 
ship of God despite the diligence and malice of their 
adversaries, seeing that they could no longer con- 
tinue in that condition, they prepared to pass over 
into Holland as they could."* 

The Pilgrims were preeminently men of action. 
They were not dreamy speculators ; they were not 
dilettanti idealists. They never let "I dare not " wait 
upon " I would." With them decision was impera- 
tive, and meant action. They had dropped two 
words from their vocabulary — doubt and hesita- 
tion. Instantly they prepared for exile; and they 
accepted it as serenely when conscience beckoned 
that way with her imperious finger, as their descend- 
ants would an invitation to attend a halcyon gala. 

Still, in the very outset they met obstacles which 
would have unnerved less resolute men. But the 
heart of their purpose was not to be broken. In 
1607,t the Pilgrims made an effort to quit the shores 

* Bradford, Hist. Plymouth Plantation, pp. 10, 11. See also 
Neal's Hist, of New England, vol. 1, p. 76. 

t Some authorities say 1602." Newell, for instance, p. 348, 
citing the British Quarterly Review. But so competent an author- 



32 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

of this inhosj)itable country. They had appointed 
Boston, in Lincolnshire, the rendezvous, and a con- 
tract had been made with an English captain to 
convey their persons and their goods to Amsterdam. 
The Pilgrims were punctual ; the seaman was not. 
Finally, however, he appeared. The eager fugitives 
were shipped ; but they were taken aboard only to 
be betrayed. The recreant master had plotted with 
the authorities to entrap the victims. The unhappy 
Pilgrims were taken ashore again in open boats, 
and there the officers "rifled and ransacked them, 
searching them to their shirts for money."* Even 
the women were treated with rude immodesty.f 
After this thievish official raid, they were " carried 
back into the town and made a spectacle and won- 
der to the multitude, which came flocking on all 
sides to behold tliem. Being thus first, by the catch- 
pole officers, rifled and stripped of their money, 
books, and much other goods, they were presented 
to the magistrates, and messengers were sent to in- 
form the lords of the council of the matter ; mean- 
time they were committed to ward. The magis- 
trates used the Pilgrims courteously, and showed 
them what kindness and favor they could ; but they 
were not able to deliver the prisoners till order 
came from the council-table. The issue was, that 
after a month's imprisonment, the greater part were 
dismissed, and sent to the places from which they 

ity as Bradford gives tlie date iu the text. See also Young's Chroni- 
cles, etc. * Bradford, p. 12. 
t Ibid. Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims. 



THE EXODUS. 33 

came; but seven of their cliiefs were still left in 
prison and bonnd over to the next assizes."* 

In the spring of 1608, these same indomitable 
Pilgrims, together with some others, resolved to 
make another effort to quit the house of bondage. 
Dryden says that 

"Only idiots may be cozened twice." 
This time they made a compact with a Dutch cap- 
tain at Hull — they would not trust an Englishman. f 
The plan now was, that the men should assemble 
on a Avild common, between Grimsby and Hull, a 
place chosen on account of its remoteness from any 
town; the women, the children, and the property of 
the exiles v/ere to be conveyed to that part of the 
coast in a barque. The men made their way thither, 
in small comj^anies, by land. The barque reached 
its destination a day sooner than the foot travel- 
lers; it was also some hours ahead of the ship.:}: 
As the short, chop-sea of the channel caused the 
passengers in the barque to suffer acutely from sea- 
sickness, the sailors ran into a small creek for shel- 
ter. Here the night was passed. How comfortless! 
The deep roar of the sullen breakers smote heavily 
upon their ears; and while the chill winds swept 
over them, the ceaseless piilsing of the sea and the 
hollow moaning of the waves at midnight, for the 
sea continued rough, deepened the melancholy feel- 
ings which could not but agitate their breasts. So 

Bradford, p. 12. 

t Stoiigliton, Spiritual Heroes, p. 72. 

1 British Quarterly Review, vol. l,p. 15. 

2* 



34 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

hiiddlecl on the weird, strange shore, they counted 
the hours till dawn.* 

In the morning the longed-for ship arrived ; but 
through some negligence of the sailors, the vessel 
containing the w'omen, their little ones, and- the 
property, had run aground. The men stood in 
groups on the shore; and that no time might be 
lost, the captain sent his boat to convey some of 
them on board, while a squad of sailors were detailed 
to help get the grounded barque once more afloat. 
But alack, by this time so considerable a gather- 
ing in such a place, and at an hour so unusual, 
had attracted attention; information was conveyed 
to the neighboring authorities; and as the boat 
which had already taken the great part of the men 
to the ship, Avas again returning to the shore, the 
captain espied a large company, some on horse- 
back, some afoot, but all armed, advancing towards 
the spot where the hapless barque still lay aground 
with the few remaining men grouped about it. 
Alarmed, the mariner put back to his vessel, swore 
by the sacrament that he would not stay, and deaf 
to the importunities of his sad passengers, he spread 
his sails, weighed anchor, and was soon out of sight.f 

We may imagine with what aching hearts the 
poor exiles in the ship looked towards the receding 
shore, to their disconsolate companions, and to their 
precious wives and children, who stood there " cry- 
ing for fear and quaking with cold." Those on board 

* Stoughton, Young, Bancroft. 

t Young's Chronicles, Stoughton, Bradford, etc. 



. THE EXODUS. 35 

the ship had no property, not even a change of rai- 
ment ; and they had scarcely a penny in their pock- 
ets. But the loss of their possessions was as nothing 
to the cruel stroke which had severed them from 
those they best loved on earth.* 

" Eobinson — honest and able general as he was 
in every sense — had resolved to be the last to em- 
bark. He was therefore a witness of the scene of 
distress and agony Avhich ensued on the departure 
of the ship. The outburst of grief was not to be 
restrained. Some of the women wept aloud; others 
felt too deeply, were too much bewildered, to in- 
dulge in utterance of any kind ; while the children, 
partly from seeing what had happened, and partly 
from a vagae impression that something dreadful 
had come, mingled their sobs and cries in the gen- 
eral lamentation. As the sail of the ship faded away 
upon the distant waters, the wives felt as if one 
stroke had reduced them all to widowhood, and 
every child that had reached years of consciousness 
felt as one who in a moment had become fatherless. 
But thus dark are the chapters in human affairs in 
which the good have often to become students, and 
from which they have commonly had to learn their 
special lessons."t 

On the approach of the officers some of the men 
escaped, others remained to assist the helpless. 
These were apprehended and " conveyed from con- 
stable to constable, till their persecutors were weary 

<» Stoughtou. 

t British Qviarterly Review, vol. 1, p. 15. 



36 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

of so large a number of captives and permitted tliem 
to go their way."* 

As to the voyagers, the very elements seemed 
to war against them. They soon encountered foul 
weather, and were driven far along the coast of Nor- 
way ; " nor sun, nor moon, nor stars, for many days 
appeared." Once they gave up all for lost, think- 
ing the ship had foundered. " But when," says a 
writer who was himself on board, "man's hope and 
help wholly failed, the Lord's power and mercy ap- 
peared for their recovery, for the ship rose again, 
and gave the mariners courage once more to man- 
age her. While the waters ran into their very ears 
and mouths, and all cried 'We sink ! we sink !' they 
also said, if not with miraculous, yet with a great 
height of divine faith, ' Yet, Lord, thou canst save ! 
yet. Lord, thou canst save !' And He who holds the 
winds in his fist, and the waters in the hollow of 
his hand, did hear and save them."t 

Eventually the storm-tossed ship dropped anchor 
in Amsterdam harbor ; and " in the end," says 
Young, " notwithstanding all these tortures, the Pil- 
grims all got over, some at one time and some at 
another, and met together again, according to their 
desire, with no small rejoicing. ":{: 

o Stoughton, p. 74. 

t Young, cited in Stoughton, p. 74. 

X Young's Chronicles, p. 29. 



THE HALT. 37 

CHAPTEE II. 

THE HALT. 

"Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him ; but weep 
sore for him that goeth aM^ay : for he shall return no more, nor 
see his native country." Jer. 22 : 10. 

When the Pilgrims stepped from the deck of 
their vessel upon the quays of Amsterdam, they 
felt that sad, aching sense of utter desolation which 
always smites exiled hearts in a strange country. 
But there was much about Amsterdam which tended 
to increase this natural homesickness, and to make 
the blood pulse still more coldly through their veins. 
Every thing was novel ; the manners, the costume, 
the architecture, the language of the people. Their 
first steps were involved in an apparently inextrica- 
ble maze ; they were confounded by the bewilder- 
ing confusion of land and water. Canals, crawled 
with their sluggish water, before them and behind 
them, to the right and to the left. Indeed, the town 
was so much interwoven with havens, that the oozy 
ground was cut tip into ninety-five islands or de- 
tached blocks, connected with each other by two 
hundred and ninety fantastic bridges. The princi- 
pal havens, called grachts, were from a hundred to 
a hundred and forty feet wide, and extended in 
semicircular curves one after the other through the 
iown. 



38 THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 

lu order to reach the interior of the city, it was 
necessary to cross a number of these broad har- 
bors ; and in making the necessary deflections in 
passing from gracht to gracht, all recollection of 
the points of the compass vanished from the minds 
of the bewildered Englishmen, so that they received 
the impression that they were wandering in a laby- 
rinth from which it was impossible to escape by 
their own unaided efforts. 

The houses were built of brick, and were gener- 
ally four or five stories high, with fantastic, pointed 
gables in front. Some of them were elegantly con- 
structed ; but the larger number of the citizens 
seemed desirous of making their dwellings look as 
like warehouses as possible. Almost every house 
had a piece of timber projecting from the wall over 
the uppermost window in the gable, and this was 
used for hauling up fuel or furniture to the top 
story. All the residences were erected upon piles 
of wood driven into the soft, marshy ground ; but 
so insuflScient was this precaution in giving stabil- 
ity, that many of the buildings leaned considerably 
from the perpendicular, and seemed as if about to 
topple over into the street or splash out of sight 
through the mud. The roadway between the 
houses and the water was so narrow, that in some 
of the finest streets a coach could not conveniently 
turn round. 

Such were some of the strange sights which 
greeted the wondering eyes of the Pilgrims as they 
hurriedly trod, on the day of their arrival, from the 



THE HALT. 39 

quay where they had landed, into the interior of 
the quaint old town in search of lodgings. 

A brief residence sufficed to familiarize the ex- 
iles with the peculiarities of the city. They soon 
discovered that Amsterdam stood upon the south- 
ern bank of the Ai, a neck of the sea which pos- 
sessed the appearance of a navigable frith. They 
examined the quays and piers which rose sheer out 
of the water, so as to afford the greatest facility for 
the shijDment of goods from the abounding ware- 
houses. They wondered at the peculiar form of the 
town, which was semicircular, with its straight side 
on the Ai, while the bow swept several miles in- 
land. The canals were fed by the river Amstel, 
from which the town was named. An immense 
exterior belt of water, which the Dutch termed 
"the cingel," pursued a zig-zag line round the 
sites of ancient bastions, which were then crowned 
with Avindmills, whose long arms and tireless fin- 
gers were incessantly employed in snatching up 
the ever-encroachiug water, and casting it far out 
into the sea. 

From the condition of a fishing-village on the 
Amstel, in the thirteenth century, Amsterdam had 
risen, under the fostering privileges of the counts 
of Flanders, to be a commercial town of some im- 
portance even in the fourteenth century. The 
estabhshment of the Dutch independence so greatly 
accelerated its prosperity, that in the beginning of 
the seventeenth century it had attained the first 
rank as a maritime city. Antwerp, the old El Do- 



40 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

rado, was eclipsed. Amsterdam became the entre- 
pot of commerce ; ships visited it from all nations ; 
its merchants were famed for their honesty and 
frugality; and its great bank enabled it to take the 
lead in the pecuniary concerns of Europe. The 
city was inhabited by a quarter of a million of 
souls ; and seated in its swamp, it was the freest 
town in the world. It was a city of refuge to the 
oppressed of all nations ; and therein, perhaps, lay 
the secret of its wonderful prosperity. 

Amsterdam was the Venice of the Netherlands 
It was literally a spot which had been wrung from 
the grasp of the unwilling and ever-protesting sea. 
A perpetual Waterloo conjflict was waged between 
the persistent Hollander and old Neptune for the 
possession of the soil which man's skill had usurp- 
ed. The city, and indeed the Netherlands at large, 
formed the " debatable groimd" of this unique strug- 
gle between humanity and the elements. The whole 
country was a morass, whose buildings were con- 
structed on huge piles; and it was this that gave 
rise to the saying of Erasmus, that "multitudes of 
his countrymen were like birds, living on the tops 
of trees." Across the forehead of the Netherlands 
brains and persistence had written their motto, 
" Labor omnia vincity* 



* The facts in the above description of Amsterdam are taken 
from Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic, from various accounts 
of travels in the Low Countries, and particularly from the very 
interesting and instructive '• Tour " of W. Chambers. Lon- 
don, 1837. 



THE HALT. 41 

Such was the city in which the Pilgrims now 
found themselves domesticated. In some things 
they found it easy to assimilate with their new 
neighbors : a common faith was one strong bond 
of imion ; a passion for liberty was another. But 
there were not lacking strong points of dissimilar- 
ity. The Pilgrims were orderly and staid ; yet they 
never could reconcile themselves to that spirit of 
system, or precise, long-authorized method, which 
formed one of the most remarkable traits in the 
manners of the Dutch. In all departments of their 
social economy they seemed to act upon established 
rules, from which it was esteemed a species of her- 
esy to depart. There were rules for visiting, for 
sending complimentary messages, for making do- 
mestic announcements, for bestowing alms, for out- 
of-door recreations — every thing was required to 
be done in a certain way, and no other way was 
right. Society was an incarnate rule. 

Another thing which puzzled the Pilgrims was, 
that in their various walks they observed that every 
house was provided with one or more mirrors in 
frames, fastened by wire rods on the outsides of the 
windows, and at such an angle as to command a 
complete view both of the doorway and of all that 
passed in the street. They afterwards found that 
these looking-glasses were universal in Holland, 
and were the solace of the ladies while following- 
their domestic avocations. 

But the exiles were too grateful for toleration 
to be hypercritical. " They knew that they were 



42 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

Pilgrims, and looked not much on these things, but 
lifted up their eyes to heaven, their dearest coun- 
try, and quieted their spirits."* They spent no 
time in idleness, but with stout hearts went to work. 
They had been bred to agricultural pursuits; but 
in Holland they were obliged to learn mechanical 
trades. Brewster became a printer ;t Bradford 
learned the art of dyeing silk..]: Some learned to 
weave, and found employment in the cloth guilds 
and at the looms. But though grim poverty often 
pinched them, and their temporal circumstances 
were never very prosperous, they yet praised God 
for what they had; and exile and the bond of a 
common misfortune knit their hearts close together, 
so that their spiritual enjoyment in each other's 
society was precious and full.§ 

Amsterdam was not altogether a city of stran- 
gers. There were some there already, who, like 
themselves, had left their native island for con- 
science' sake. II But though they had formed a 
church, its vitals were torn by fierce dissension. 
The feud blazed when Bobinson and his friends 
reached Holland ; since nothing could placate the 
resentment of the hostile parties, the Pilgrims, 
fearful of the baleful effect of the quarrel upon 
themselves, decided, after a sojourn of twelve 

* Bancroft, Hist. United States, vol. 1, p. 303. 
•|- Ibid. Bradford, Young, Stoughton, etc. 
J Bradford, Hist. Plymouth Plantation. 
§ Stoughton, p. 82. Yoiing's Chronicles. 
II Morton's Memorial, Prince, Bradford. 



THE HALT. 43 

months, to remove fi-om Amsterdam to the neigh- 
boring citj of Lejdeu."-' 

" While Amsterdam was rising into mercantile 
Avealth, Leyden was acquiring literary reputation. 
By a singular but honorable preference, the citi- 
zens, on being offered by AYilliam the Silent, in 
1575, as a reward for their valor during the famous 
siege, either a remission of taxes or the foundation 
of a university, at once chose the university. The 
city had obtained the appellation of the Athens of 
the West. But with its scholastic cloisters it com- 
bined busy manufactures: while in one street the 
student was engaged with his books, in another the 
weaver was seated at his loom. But all breathed 
quietude and liberty; and it is difficult to imagine 
a more inviting home than that which Leyden pre- 
sented to these weary, sore-footed Pilgrims as they 
trod along the pleasant road from Amsterdam, 
* seeking peace above all other riches.' 

" If the history of the city they had left was cal- 
culated to stimulate them to industry, the story of 
the town they were entering was adapted to keep 
alive their love of liberty. Traces might still be 
seen of the effects of the heroic deed performed by 
the citizens of Leyden, when, contending for their 
freedom, they preferred to inundate their city and 
give it to the sea, rather than submit to the cruel 
tyranny of Sj)ain."t 

Here, as before at Amsterdam, they fell to work. 

<^ Bradford, Cotton Mather, etc. 
t Stoughton, p. 82. 



4i THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

" Being now pitched," says Bradford, " they fell to 
such trades and employments as they best could, 
valuing peace and their spiritual comfort above 
any other riches whatsoever; and at length they 
came to raise a competent and decent living, but 
with hard and continual labor."^ 

In Leyden the Pilgrims remained for many 
years, " enjoying much sweet society and spiritual 
comfort together in the ways of God, under the able 
and prudent government of Mr. John Eobinson. 
Yea, such was the mutual love and respect which 
this worthy man had to his flock and his flock to 
him, that it might be said of them, as it once was 
of the famous emperor Marcus Aureliust and the 
people of Borne, that it was hard to judge whether 
he delighted more in having such a people, or they 
in having such a pastor. His love was great tow- 
ards them, and his care was always bent for their 
best good, both for soul and body ; for besides his 
singular ability in divine things— wherein he ex- 
celled — he was very able to give direction in civil 
iaffairs, and to foresee dangers and inconveniences ; 
by which means he was very helpful to the outward 
estates of the exiles, and so was in every Avay a 
common father to them.".]: 

Mr. William Brewster was Bobinson's assistant, 
and " he was now called and chosen by the church" 

* Bradford, Hist. Plymouth Plantation, p. 17. 
I Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius ; first printed in English in 
1534. Debley's TjTOOg. Antiq., vol. 3, p. 280. 
X Bradford, pp. 17, 18. 



THE HALT. 46 

to fill tlie place of elder.* The Pilgrims " grew in 
knowledge and gifts and other graces of the Spirit 
of God, and lived together in peace and love and 
holiness ; and as many came unto them from divers 
parts of England, they grew to be a great congre- 
gation. If at any time differences arose or offences 
broke out — as it cannot be but sometimes there 
will, even among the best of men — they were ever 
so met with and nipped in the bud betimes, or oth- 
erwise so well compassed, as still love, peace, and 
communion, were preserved; or else the church was 
purged of those that were incorrigible, when, after 
much patience used, no other means would serve — 
which seldom came to pass."t 

Though strict in their discipline and strongly 
attached to their distinctive principles, the Leyden 
exiles were far from being bigots. Robinson, 
though, in Cotton Mather's phrase, " he had been 
in his younger time — as very good fruit hath some- 
times been, ere age hath ripened it — soured by the 
princijDles of rigid separation,":]; was now developed 
into a man of large-hearted benevolence and en- 
lightened catholicity. Over his flock he breathed 
this heavenly spirit. Nothing more offended him 
than the conduct of those " Avho cleaved unto them- 
selves, and retired from the common good."§ Noth- 
ing more provoked him than to witness undue rigid- 

o Bradford, pp. 17, 18. Young, etc. 
t Bradford, pp. 17, 18. 
X Cotton Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 47. 
§ Bradford, p. 18. Stoughton. 



46 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

itj in the enforcement of subordinate matters, espe- 
cially when sternness on points of outward order 
was associated, as is often tlie case, v»'itli laxity in 
the critics. Robinson knew how to estimate " the 
tithe of mint and anise and cummin" in their rela- 
tive value to the weightier matters of the law. 
Schism he condemned ; division he deplored. From 
the government and ceremonies of the English 
Establishment his conscience compelled him to dis- 
sent, but he was prepared to welcome the disciples 
of that and of all other Christian communions to 
the fellowship of the Lord's table. " Our faith," 
said he, " is not negative ; nor does it consist in the 
condemnation of others, and wiping their names out 
of the bead-roll of churches, but in the edification 
of ourselves. Neither require we of any of ours, in 
the confession of their faults, that they renounce or 
in any one word contest with the Church of Eng- 
land."* 

It is not strange that such a teacher should have 
won the reverent regard of his Pilgrim flock. They 
could not fail to hold him " in precious estimation, 
as his worth and wisdom did deserve." And 
" though they esteemed him highly while he lived 
and labored among them," says Bradford, "yet 
much more after his death,! when they came to 
feel the want of his help, and saw, by woful expe- 
rience, what a treasure they had lost; yea, such a 
loss as they saw could not be repaired, for it was 

* Cited in Stoughton, p. 84. 

\ Eobinson died at Leyden, March I, 1804-5. 



THE HALT. 47 

as hard for them to find such another leader and 
feeder in all respects, as for the Taborites to find 
another Ziska.* And though they did not, like tlie 
Bohemians, call themselves orphans after his death, 
yet they had as much cause to lament their present 
condition and after-usage. "i* 

Characterized by so much unity, peacefulness, 
consistency, and true-hearted love, the Pilgrims 
could not fail to win the sincere respect of the Ley- 
den citizens. Though most of them were poor, yet 
there were none so poor but if they were known to 
be of the English congregation, the Dutch trades- 
men would trust them in any reasonable amount 
when they lacked money, and this because they 
had found by experience how careful they were to 
keep their word, while they saw them painful and 
diligent in their respective callings. The Leyden 
merchants even strove to get their custom ; and 
when they required aid, emjiloyed the honest stran- 
gers and paid them above others.:]: 

The city magistrates testified to the sobriety 
and peacefulness of their guests on the eve of their 
departure from Holland. " These English," said 
they, in reproving the exiled Walloons§ who were 

* For an interestiug account of Ziska, or Zisca, the blind 
Hussite leader of the Bohemian "insurgents, who was never de- 
feated, see Mosheim's Eccles. Hist., cent. XV., Hallani's Hist, of 
the Middle Ages, vol. 1, p. 463, or the EncyclopoBdia Americana, 
article "Zisca." 

t Bradford, pp. 18, 19. ± Ibid., pp. 19, 20. 

§ The "Walloons inhabited the soiithern Belgic provinces bor- 
dering on France. As they spoke the French language, ' ' they were 



48 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

attached to the French refugee church, "have lived 
among us now these twelve years, and yet we never 
had any suit or action against any one of them ; 
but your strifes and quarrels are continual."* 

The reputation of their pastor for sanctity and 
learning no doubt tended to raise the respectability 
of the English church in the estimation of the 
Dutch. 

Circumstances afforded him ample scope for the 
display of his talents. A heated discussion between 
the Armiuians and the Calvinists raged in Leyden 
during his residence in the cit}^ and in that far- 
famed controversy the great English divine was 
finally persuaded to take part.f 

In the schools there were daily and hot disjiutes. 
Scholars Avere divided in opinion. The two profes- 
sors or divinity readers of the Leyden university 
were themselves ranged on opposite sides ; one of 
them, Episcopius, teaching the Arminian tenets; 
the other, Polyander, proclaiming the Calvinistic 
creed. :|; 

Bobinson, though he taught thrice a week, be- 
sides writing sundry pamphlets,§ went daily to listen 

called GaUois, which was changed, in Low Dutch, into Waalsche, 
and in English into Walloon. " Many of them were Protestants, 
and being subject to relentless persecution by the Spanish gov- 
ernment, they emigrated in gi-ent numbers into Holland, carrying 
with them a knowledge of the industrial arts. See Bradford's 
Hist. Plym. Plantation, p. 20, note. 

* Bradford, p. 20. Stoughton, Young, Ashton's Life of Rob- 
inson, t Stoughton, p. 85. 

X Bradford, Young, Neal, Mather, etc. 

^ A collection of the Works of John Kobinson was printed in 



THE HALT. 49 

to the disputations, bearing first one side, then the 
other. In this way he became tboroughlj grounded 
in the controversy, saw the force of the opposing 
'arguments, and became famihar with the shifts of 
the inimical disputants. Some sermons which lie 
delivered in the English church on the contested 
issues attracted public attention. Episcopius had 
just published certain theses which he had affirmed 
that he was prepared to maintain against all oppo- 
nents. Polyander and the chief preachers of the 
city waited upon Robinson, and urged him to pick 
up the gauntlet. He was loath, being a stranger ; 
but they beat down the rampart of his objections, 
and finally Robinson consented to dispute. Epis- 
copius and the Pilgrim pastor met, and in this public 
tilt the English champion is said to have achieved 
" a famous victory.""- 

Ever after this verbal tournament, Robinson 
was held in the highest esteem by the learned men 
of the university, by the Dutch preachers, and by 
the republican government of Holland.i- Indeed, 
it is said that nothing but the fear of ofi'ending the 
English king prevented the bestowal upon him of 
some mark of national favor.^ 

On their part, the English refugees always 

treated the reformed churches of the Continent 

with honor and fraternal kindness. " We acknowl- 

London in 1851, with a memoir and annotations by Mr. Robert 
Ashton. 

* Bradford, p. 21. Cotton Mather's Magnaha, vol. 1, p. 47. 

■|- Bradford, Mather, Stoughton. 

t Ibid., Young, Ashton's Life of Robinson. 

PllBllm PBtheiu. 3 



50 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

edge," remarked Kobinson, " before God and man, 
that we harmonize so perfectly with the reformed 
churches of the Netherhands in matters of rehgion, 
as to be ready to subscribe their articles of faith, 
and every one of them, as they are set forth in their 
confession. We acknowledge these churches as 
true and genuine ; we hold fellowship with them as 
far as we can; those among us who understand 
Dutch, attend their preaching ; we offer the Sup- 
per to such of their members as are known to us 
and may desire it."* 

Yet the Pilgrims did not indorse the system of 
church government which received the imprimatur 
of the Synod of Dort. They steadfastly maintained 
that each single church or society of Christians 
possessed within itself full ecclesiastical authority 
for choosing officers, administering all the ordi- 
nances of the gospel, and settling its discipline ; in 
a word, they held to the perfect independence of 
the individual churches, and framed their ecclesi- 
tical polity on the purest democratic model.t 

"They conceded," observes Uhden, "that syn- 
ods and councils might be useful in healing divis- 
ions between churches, and in imparting to tliem 
friendly advice, but not in the exercise of judicial 
authority over them, or in the imposition of any 
canon or any article of faith, without the free assent 
of each individual church. "J 

'-'* Robinson's Apology for the Romanists, 

t Uhden, New England Theocracy, p. 42. Robinson's Works, 
etc. X Uhden, p. 42. 



THE HALT. 51 

Sheathed in the panoply of their principles, 
busied in the multifarious activities of their daily 
employments, and solaced by faith, the Pilgrims 
"made shift to live in these hard times." Pere- 
grini Deo cura, runs the old Latin phrase ; and this 
exiled band of worshippers proved that strangers 
are indeed peculiar objects of God's care. 



52 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

CHAPTEE III. 

THE DECISION. 

"Can ye lead out to distant colonies 
The o'erflowings of a people, or your wronged 
Brethren, by impious persecution driven. 
And arm their breasts with fortitude to try 
New regions— climes, though barren, yet beyond 
The baneful power of tyi-ants ? These are deeds 
For which their hardy labors well prejDare 
The sinewy arms of Albion's sons." 

Dyeb. 

Although the Pilgrims resided at Ley den in 
honor, and at peace with God and their own con- 
sciences, many circumstances conspired to render 
them anxious and uneasy. The horizon of the Neth- 
erlands grew gloomy with portents of war. The 
famous truce between Holland and the Spaniard 
drew near its conclusion.* The impatient demon 
of strife stood knocking at the door. Homesick- 
ness gnawed at their hearts. Dear, cruel England 
filled their thoughts. The language of the Dutch 
had never become pleasantly familiar.f Frequently 
" they saw poverty coming on them like an armed 
man." Many of their little band were taken from 
them by death. " Grave mistress Experience hav- 

** This ' ' famous truce, " so long desired, embraced a period of 
twelve years. It was signed in April, 1609, and expired in 1621. 
Graltan, Hist. Netherlands. 

f Bancroft, Hist, United States, vol. 1, p. 303, 



THE DECISION. 53 

ing taught them many things," some of their " sagest 
members began both deeply to apprehend their 
present dangers and wisely to foresee the future, 
and to think of timely remedy." They inclined to 
removal, "not out of any newfangledness or other 
such like giddy humor, by which men are often- 
times transported to their great hurt and danger, 
but for sundry weighty and solid reasons."* 

These have been often reci'ted, and they com- 
pletely vindicate the project to remove. 

The Pilgrims " saw, and found by experience, 
the hardness of the place and country to be siich 
that feAV in comparison would come to them, and 
fewer would bide it out and continue with them; 
for many that joined them, and many more who 
desired to be with them, could not endure the great 
labor and hard fare, with other inconveniences 
which they underwent and were content to bear. 
But though they loved the persons of the exiles, 
approved their cause, and honored their sufferings, 
yet they left them weeping, as Orpah did her mother- 
in-law Naomi, and as those Romans did Cato in 
Utica, who desired to be excused and borne with, 
though they could not all be Catos.f For man}-, 
though they desired to enjoy the ordinances of God 
as the Pilgrims did, yet, alas, chose bondage, with 
danger of conscience, rather than to endure these 
hardships. Yea, some preferred the prisons of Eng- 
land to this liberty in Holland, with these afflictions. 

o Bradford, Hist. Plymouth Plantation, pp. 22, 23. 
f See Plutarch's Life of Cato the Younger. 



54 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

The Pilgrims thought that if a better and easier 
place of residence could be had, it would draw many 
to them, and take away these discouragements. 
Yea, their pastor would often say that many of 
those who both wrote and preached against them 
there would, if they were in a place where they 
might have liberty and live comfortably, practise 
as they did."* 

Then again, " they saw that, though the exiles 
generally bore all these difficulties very cheerfully 
and with resolute courage, being in the best and 
strength of their years, yet old age began to steal 
upon them — and their great and continued labors, 
with other crosses and sorrows, hastened it before 
the time — so it was not only probably thought, 
but apparently seen, that within a few years more 
they would be in danger to scatter by necessities 
pressing them, or sink under their burdens, or both. 
Therefore, according to the divine proverb, that 'a 
wise man seetli the plague when it cometh, and 
hideth himself,'t so they, like skilful and tried sol- 
diers, were fearful to be entrapped and surrounded 
by their enemies, so as they should neither be able 
to fight or fly ; so they thought it better to dislodge 
betimes to some place of better advantage and less 
danger, if any such could be found.":}: 

It was furthermore perceived that, " as necessity 

was a task-master over them, so they were forced to 

be such, not only to their servants, but in a sort to 

their dearest children ; the which, as it did not a 

c Bradford. f Proverbs 22 : 3. {Bradford. 



THE DECISION. 55 

little wound the tender hearts of many loving fathers 
and mothers, so it produced likewise sundry sad 
and sorrowful effects; for many of their children, 
who were of the best disiDOsition and most gracious 
inclinations, having learned to bear the yoke in their 
youth, and being willing to bear part of their pa- 
rents' burden, were oftentimes so oppressed by their 
heavy labors, that though their minds were free and 
willing, yet their bodies bowed under the weight, 
and became decrepit in early youth, the vigor of 
nature being consumed in the bud. But that which 
was more lamentable, and of all sorrows most heavy 
to be borne, was, that many of the children, by these 
means and the great licentiousness of youth in those 
countries and the manifold temptations of the place, 
were drawn away by evil example into extravagant 
and dangerous courses, getting the reins off their 
necks, and departing from their parents. Some be- 
came soldiers, others made far voyages by sea, and 
some walked in paths tending to dissoluteness and 
the danger of their souls, to the great grief of their 
parents and the dishonor of God. The Pilgrims 
saw that their posterity would be in danger to de- 
generate and be corrupted."^-' 

Still again — " and this was not least" — they were 
inclined to remove by the " great hope and inward 
zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at 
least of making some way thereto, for the propaga- 
tion and advancement of the gospel of the kingdom 
of Christ in remote parts of the world ; yea, though 

« Bradford, p. 24. 



56 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

they should be but even as stepping-stones unto 
others for the performance of so great a work."* 

These and some other kindred reasonst pushed 
the Pilgrims to further emigration. The question 
which each began to ask the other was, " Whither 
shall we go?" Soon this query stared all other 
considerations out of countenance, and became the 
all-engrossing topic of discussion at the hearth- 
stones and in the chapel of the exiles. 

At this juncture a germ of thought was devel- 
oped which proved to be the seed of a mighty em- 
pire. All Europe stood a-tip-toe gazing across the 
misty and chilling waste of waters towards that 
new continent by whose discovery the genius of 
Columbus had rounded the globe into perfect sym- 
metry. The glories of the New World flashed in 
the brilliant eloquence of Raleigh. Marvellous tales 
were told of the fertility of the soil and of the health- 
ful beauty of the skies; while old sailors, who had 
gazed with their own eyes upon the legendary 
shores, passed from city to city depicting to eager 
and credulous crowds the terrors of the wilderness 
and the wild ferocity of the Western savages. 

Meantime " the career of maritime discovery had 
been pursued with daring intrepidity and rewarded 
with brilliant success. The voyages of Gosnold, 
and Smith, and Hudson, the enterprise of Raleigh, 
and Delaware, and Gorges, the compilations of 
Eden, and Willes, and Hakluyt, had filled the com- 

o Bradford, p. 24. 

f For additional reasons, see Young, p. 385. 



THE DECISION. 57 

mercial world with wonder. Calvinists of the French 
church had ah'eady sought, though vainly, to plant 
themselves in Brazil, in Carolina, and, with De 
Monts, in Acadia ;"* and now, in 1G17, some bold 
thinker and unshrinking speaker among the Ley- 
den Pilgrims, perhaps Brewster, perhaps Bradford, 
perhaps Kobinsoa himself, proposed to colonize 
" sorne of those vast and unpeopled countries of 
America which were fruitful and fit for habitation, 
but devoid of all civilized inhabitants ; where there 
were only savage and brutish men, who ranged up 
and down little otherwise than as wild beasts."t 

At the outset the Pilgrims listened to this pro- 
posal, some with admiration, some with misgiving, 
some openly aghast. Bradford's quaint pages afford 
us some glimpses of their debates. The doubters 
said, " It is a great design, and subject to incon- 
ceivable perils ; as besides the casualties of the seas, 
Avhicli none can be freed from, the length of the voy- 
age is such that the weak bodies of many worn out 
with age and travel, as many of us are, can never 
be able to endure ; and even if they should, the mis- 
eries to which we should be exposed in that land 
will be too hard for us to bear ; 't is likely that some 
or all will effect our ruin. There we shall be liable 
to famine, and nakedness, and want of all things. 
The change of air, diet, and water, will infect us 
with sickness; and those who escape these evils 
will be in danger of the savages, who are cruel, 

•3 Bancroft, Hist, United States, vol. 1, p. 303. 
t Bradford, p. 24 ; Young's Chronicles, etc. 
3* 



58 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

barbarous, and most treacherous in their rage, and 
merciless when they overcome; not being content 
only to kill, but delighting to torment men in the 
most bloody way, flaying men alive with the shells 
of fishes, cutting ofi' the joints by piece-meal, broil- 
ing them on coals, and eating collops of their vic- 
tims' flesh while they yet live, and in their very 
sight." 

As these horrors darkened in their imaginations, 
the deeply-interested exiles who thronged the coun- 
cil-chamber shuddered with affright. Mothers, 
hearing the shrill war-whoop in advance, strained 
their babes yet closer to their breasts, " Surely it 
could not be thought but the very hearing of these 
things must move the very bowels of men to grate 
within them, and make the weak to quake and 
tremble." 

But the opponents of the project urged still 
other objections, " and those neither unreasonable 
nor improbable," " It will require," they said, "more 
money than we can furnish to prepare for such a 
voyage. Similar schemes have failed;* and our 
experience in removing to Holland teaches us how 
hard it is to live in a strange country, even though 
it be a rich and civilized commonwealth. What 
then shall we do in the frozen wilderness?" 

Fear chilled the hearts, doubt paralyzed the 
nerves of the assembled exiles. Then the more 
resolute stood up, and, fixing their eyes on the sky, 

~ In allusion, probably, to the plantation project at Sagadahoc, 
in 1607. See Bancroft and others. 



THE DECISION. 59 

exclaimed, " God will protect us ; and he points us 
on. All great and honorable actions are accompa- 
nied with great difficulties, and must be both under- 
taken and overcome with answerable courage. We 
grant the dangers of this removal to be tremendous, 
but not desperate; the difficulties are many, but 
not invincible ; for though many of them are likelj^, 
all are not certain. It may be that sundry of the 
things surmised may never haj)pen ; others, by prov- 
ident care and the use of good means, may be pre- 
vented; and all of them, through the help of God, 
by fortitude and patience may either be borne or 
overcome. True it is that such attempts are not to 
be undertaken without good reason; never rashly 
or lightly, as many have done, for curiosity or hope 
of gain. But our condition is not ordinary; our 
ends are good and honorable; our calling lawful 
and urgent; therefore we may invoke and expect 
God's blessing on our proceeding. Yea, though 
we should lose our lives in this action, yet may we 
have comfort in it, and our endeavor would be hon- 
orable. We live here but as men in exile; and as 
great miseries may befall us in this place, for the 
twelve years of truce are now nigh up, and here is 
nothing but beating of drums and preparations for 
war, the events whereof are always uncertain. The 
Spaniard may prove as cruel as the savages of 
America, and the famine and pestilence as sore 
here as there, and our hberty less to look out for a 
remedy."* 

* This debate is copied from Bradford, pp. 25-27. 



60 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

It was thus that the undaunted apostles of the 
future pleaded; and now as always, the policy of 
active, trustful, and religious courage overbore the 
timid pleas of the undecided, the plausible doubts 
of the skeptical, and the wailing dissent of the croak- 
ers who paused distrustful of the iinknown future 
and enamoured of the anchored past. The Pil- 
grims announced their decision to follow in the 
wake of Columbus, and launch boldly across the 
Atlantic, trusting God. 



FAEEWELL, 61 



CHAPTEE IV. 

FAREWELL. 

"Like Israel's host to exile driven, 

Across the flood the Pilgrims fled ; 
Their hands bore up the ark of heaven, 

And Heaven their trusting footsteps led, 
Till on these savage shores they trod. 

And won the wilderness for God. " 

PlEKPONT. 

Having decided to settle in America, the Pilgrims, 
"after humble prayers unto God for his direction 
and assistance," held another general conference, 
and in this they discussed the location of their pro- 
posed colony. Borne were ardent for Guiana,* whose 
tropical climate and immeasurable mineral wealth 
Baleigh had painted in dazzling colors, and whose 
fertility was such that it was only necessary to 
" tickle it with a hoe, and it would laugh with a 
harvest." The Spaniard was already there. It has 
been well said that the golden dreams which deluded 
the first European settlers of America were akin, 
alike in object and results, to the old alchymists' 
search after the philosopher's stone. The painful 
alchymist lost not only the gold he sought, but the 
wealth of knowledge and of substantial commercial 
treasure which the researches of modern chemistry 
have disclosed ; and so the Spanish colonists slighted 

** Bradford, Young, Elliot, Bancroft, etc. 



62 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

the abounding wealth of a genial climate and a fer- 
tile soil, while chasing the illusive phantom of *' a 
land of gold."* 

Yet, despite the apparent opening in Guiana, the 
Pilgrims would not go thither, partly because the 
pretensions of England to the soil were wavering, 
but chiefly because a horde of intolerant and ubi- 
quitous Jesuits had already planted themselves in 
that vicinity. t 

"Upon their talk of removing, sundry of the 
Dutch would have had them go under them, and 
made them large offers ;" but " the Pilgrims were 
attached to their nationality as Englishmen, and to 
the language of their fatherland. A deep-seated 
love of country led them to the generous purpose 
of recovering the protection of England by enlarg- 
ing her dominions. They were 'restless' with the 
desire to live once more under the government of 
their native land.":}: 

This feeling led them to reject the proposal of 
the Holland merchants; and, since they had also 
given up the idea of colonizing Guiana, they deter- 
mined to essay a settlement in " the most northern 
parts of Virginia," hoping under the provincial gov- 
ernment " to live in a distinct body by themselves," 
at peace with God and man.§ 

There were in 1617 two organized English com- 
panies which had been chartered by James I. to 

* Wilson's Pilgi'im Fathers, p. 341 . 

t Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 20i. J Ibid. 

§ Ibid., Bradford, Young. 



FAREWELL. 63 

colonize America, and empowered to effect regular 
and permanent settlements, extending one hundred 
miles inland. The headquarters of one of these Avas 
in London, of the other in Plymouth.* The Leyden 
Pilgrims were impelled to sail under the auspices 
of one of these merchant-companies by a double 
consideration — a lack of means to effect an inde- 
pendent settlement, and a desire to emigrate in 
such shape that they might live under English pro- 
tection. t Hence on selecting Virginia as the site of 
their intended settlement, the exiles at once de- 
spatched two of their number to England, at the 
charge of the rest, J to negotiate with the Virginia 
company.§ They ."found God going along with 
them;" and through the influence of ''Sir Edwin 
Sandys, a religious gentleman then living," they 
might at once have gained a patent; but the care- 
ful envoys desired first to consult " the multitude" 
at Leyden.ll 

In their interview with the Leyden merchants, 
the envoys had expressly stipulated for freedom of 
religious worship.lF On their return to Holland 
they told the Leyden congregation that they " found 
the Virginia company very desirous to have them 
go out under their auspices, and willing to grant 
them a patent, with as ample privileges as they 
could bestow; while some of their chiefs did not 

« Wilson's Pilgrim Fathers, p. 356. 

\ Ibid., Bradford, Bancroft. J Bradford, p. 29. 

§ Ibid. II Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 304 

H Bradford, p. 28. 



G4 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

doubt their ability to obtain a guaranty of tolera- 
tion for them from the king."* 

The Pilgrim agents carried back with them a 
friendly and sympathizing letter from Sir Edwin 
Sandys ;t and to this a formal answer was re- 
turned. " We verily believe," wrote Eobinson and 
Brewster, " that the Lord is with us, unto whom 
and whose service we have given ourselves in many 
trials ; and that he will graciously prosper our en- 
deavors according to the simplicity of our hearts 
therein. We are well weaned from the delicate milk 
of our mother-country, and inured to the difficulties 
of a strange and hard land, which yet, in a great 
part, we have by patience overcome. Our people 
are, for the body of them, industrious and frugal, 
we think we may say, as any company of people in 
the world. We are knit together as a body in a 
most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the 
Lord, of the violation whereof we make great con- 
science, and by virtue whereof we do hold ourselves 
strictly tied to all care of each other's good, and of 
the whole. It is not with us as with other men, 
whom small things can discourage, or small discon- 
tentments cause to wish themselves at home again. 
We know our entertainment in England, and in 
Holland; we shall much prejudice both our arts 
and means by removal; but once gone, we should 

« Bradford, p. 28. 

t For some account of Sir Edwin Sandys, one of the most 
prominent members of the Virginia company, see Hood's AthenaB 
Oxon., vol. 2, p. 472. 



FAKEWELL. 05 

not be won to return by any hope to recover even 
our present helps and comforts."* 

While these negotiations were pending the Vir- 
ginia company found much greater difficulty than 
they had apprehended in winning from the silly and 
pedantic king an assent to the tolerant clauses of 
the Pilgrims' patent; "and though many means 
were used to bring it about, it could not be 
effected."t When the Pilgrims asked that liberty 
of worship might be confirmed under the king's 
broad seal, they were asked two questions: "How 
intend ye to gain a livelihood in the new country?" 
The reply was, " By fishing, at first." " Who shall 
make 3'our ministers?" was the next query. The 
Pilgrims answered, " The power of making them is 
in the church;" and this spoiled all. To enlarge 
the dimensions of England James I. esteemed "a 
good and honest motive; and fishing Avas an hon- 
est trade, the apostles' own calling," yet he referred 
their suit to the decision of the prelates of Canter- 
bury and London. I 

The exiles were advised not to carry their suit 
before the bishops, but to rely upon events and the 
disposition which his majesty had shoAvn to connive 
at their enterprise under " a formal promise of neg- 
lect."§ Besides, it was considered that if James 
had confirmed their titles, nothing could bind him. 
" If afterwards there should be a purpose to wrong 

® This letter, as also that of Sandys which occasioued it, may 
be found in extenso in Bradford, pp. 30, 31, 32, 33. 

t Bradford, p. 29, t Bancroft, p. 305. § Bancroft. 



66 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

US," said they, " though we had a seal as broad as 
the house floor, it would not serve the turn; for 
there would be means enough found to recall or 
reverse it."* So they determined in this, as in other 
things, to rest on God's providence. 

New agents were at once despatched to England 
to urge forward the lagging preparations. But dis- 
sensions in theYirginia compauy "ate out the heart 
of action." At last, in 1619, a patent was granted,t 
and only " one more negotiation remained to be 
completed. The Pilgrims were not possessed of 
suflicient capital for the execution of their scheme. 
The confidence in wealth to be derived from fish- 
eries had made American expeditions a subject 
of consideration Avith English merchants; and the 
agents from Leyden were able to, form a partner- 
ship between their friends and the men of business 
in London. A company called the ' Merchant- Ad- 
venturers ' was formed. The services of each emi- 
grant were rated as a capital of ten pounds, and 
belonged to the company; all profits were to be 
reserved till the end of seven years, when the whole 
amount, and all houses, lands, gardens, and fields, 
were to be divided among the shareholders accord- 
ing to their respective interests. A London mer- 
chant who risked one hundred pounds would receive 
for his money tenfold more than the penniless laborer 

* Bradford. 

■{• Ibid. "Being taken in the name of one who failed to ac- 
company the expedition, the patent was never of the least ser- 
vice." Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 303. 



FAEEWELL. 67" 

for his entire services. This arrangement threat- 
ened a seven j'ears' check to the pecuniary prosper- 
ity of the colony ; 3^et as it did not interfere with 
civil rights or religion, it did not intimidate the 
resolved."* 

It is peculiarly interesting to us of this genera- 
tion to notice hoAV prominent a trait republicanism 
was in the intellectual character of the Pilgrims. 
It crops out constantly. Nothing must be done 
without the assent of " the multitude." When any 
important matter was broached, the pastor did not 
presume to dictate, nor did the elders assume to 
control ; the decision rested with the majority vote 
of the community. Their council was the ideal 
model of a pure democracy. 

So now, when their envoys returned, "they made 
a public recital," and the Pilgrims " had a solemn 
meeting and a day of humiliation to seek the Lord 
for his direction. "t Eobinson preached, " teaching 
many things very aptly and befitting their present 
occasion and condition, strengthening them against 
their fears and perplexities, and encouraging them 
in their resolutions."^ 

This fine incident was at once an illustration and 
a prophecy ; it illustrated the rugged, self-centred, 
3'et devout independence of the exiles, and it proph- 
esied from tliis the twining laurels of success. The 
Pilgrims were invincible ; and the secret of their 

* Bancroft, pp. 305, 306. The title of the company thus 
formed was "The Merchant Adventurers." See Elliot, vol. 1, p. 
49. t Bradford. Winslow in Young's Chronicles. 

X Ibid. 



68 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

strength was religious democracy. If in their right- 
hand they held an ojoen Bible, signifying faith and 
hope, in their left they clutched tenaciously the fun- 
damental but still crude principles of organized lib- 
erty — the now open secret of later Saxon progress. 
At length, in Jul}", 1G20, " after much travail and 
debate, all things were got ready and provided."* 
It had been previously decided who and how many 
should sail with "the forlorn hope;" "for all that 
were willing to have gone could not get ready on 
account of their other affairs : neither if they could, 
had there been means to have transported them all 
together. Those that stayed being the greater 
number, required the pastor to tarry Avith them ; 
and indeed for other reasons Kobiuson could not 
then well go, so this was more readily yielded unto. 
The others then desired elder Brewster to sail with 
them, which was assented to. It was also agreed 
by mutual consent and covenant, that those who 
went should be an absolute church of themselves, 
as well as those who remained ; seeing that, in such 
a dangerous voyage, and removed to such a dis- 
tance, it might come to pass that they should, for 
the body of them, never meet again in this world ; 
yet this proviso was inserted, that as any of the 
rest crossed the water, or any of the Pilgrims re- 
turned upon occasion, they should be reputed as 
members without any further discussion or testi- 
monial. It was also promised to those that went 
first, by the body of the rest, that if the Lord gave 
* Bradford. Wtuslow in Young's Chronicles. 



FAREWELL. 69 

tliem life and means and opportunity, they would 
come to them as soon as they could."* 

On the eve of departure a solemn fast was held. 
"Let us seek of God," said these disciples so shortly 
to be severed by the sullen sea, " a right way for us 
and for our little ones and for all our substance." 
Is it strange that New England is moral and well- 
ordered and devout, when it was begotten of a fast 
and a prayer? 

Robinson gave the departing members of his 
exiled flock " a farewell, breathing a freedom of 
opinion and an independence of authority such as 
then was hardly known in the world ;"t and this he 
intermixed with practical directions for the future 
guidance of the Pilgrim voyagers. He chose that 
beautiful text in Ezra, " And there, at the river by 
Ahava, I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble 
ourselves before God, and seek of him a right way 
for us, and for our children, and for all our sub- 
stance.":): 

Unhappily, " but a brief outline of that remark- 
able sermon has been preserved. We would gladly 
give whole shoals of printed discourses in exchange 
for that one homily. While, however, the larger 
part is lost in the long silence of the past, the frag- 
ments of this great man's farewell utterances are 
gathered up and preserved among our richest 
relics."§ 

o Bradford, p. 42. f Bancroft. 

i Ezra 8 : 21. This is the version in Bradford's Narrative. 
§ Stoughton, Spiritual Heroes — The Pilgrim Fathers. 



70 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

Never was there a more affecting occasion, A 
Christian congregation, welded together alike b}^ a 
common faith and a common misfortune, was about 
to be rent asunder. Some of their number, thrice 
exiled, were soon to essay the settlement of an un- 
known and legendary wilderness. These dear wan- 
derers they might never see again with their mortal 
eyes ; and even should they meet them once more 
on the shores of time, years must intervene before 
the greeting. Strange thoughts and anxious chased 
each other across the troubled mirror of each coun- 
tenance. All eyes were dim with tears ; all hands 
were clasped ; the pastor's heart was full. Amidst 
the painful silence, broken by a frequent sob, the 
low, sweet voice of Kobinson was heard quivering 
upon the sympathetic air : " Brethren, we are now 
ere long to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth 
whether I shall live ever to see your faces more. 
But whether the Lord hath appointed it or not, I 
charge you before God and his blessed angels to 
follow me no farther than I have followed Christ. 
If God should reveal any thing to you by any other 
instrument of his, be as ready to receive it as ever 
you were to receive any truth of my ministry, for I 
am very confident the Lord hath more truth and 
light yet to break forth out of his holy word. Mis- 
erably do I bewail the state and condition of the 
reformed churches, who are come to a period in 
religion, and will go no farther than the instru- 
ments of their reformation. 

" Remember your church covenant, in which 



FAEEWELL. 71 

you have agreed to walk in all the ways of the 
Lord, made or to be made known unto you. Re- 
member your promise and covenant with God and 
with one another to receive whatever light and truth 
shall be made known to you from his written word ; 
but withal, take heed, I beseech you, what you re- 
ceive for truth, and compare it and weigh it with 
other scriptures of truth before you accept it ; for 
it is not possible the Christian world should come 
so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, 
and that full perfection of knowledge should break 
forth at once."* 

Much is said nowadays about the development 
of Christianity. The clatter of j35e2«?o-philosophers 
is deafening. We have the German rationalistic 
school; the worshippers in the "broad church" of 
the humanitarians ; the idolaters of a mystic pan- 
theism ; the devotees of the Socinian tenets ; the 
bold blasphemers who reject all faith, and form a 
creed in epigrammatic sneers ; and the apostles of 
two churches, one of which believes that God is too 
good to damn men, while the other holds that man 
is too good to be damned. All this divinity is quite 
adrift ; it floats rudderless, and rejects the anchor- 
age of God's word. Robinson was wiser. He was 
no friend of stagnant Christianity ; but in all his 
voyaging after truth he clung to his Bible anchor- 
age. Inside of that he saw ample room for the 
completest development. " The Bible, not the fa- 

• Neale ; Winslow in Young ; Belknap, Stoughton, etc. 



72 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

tliers, formed his text-book ; lie discerned there the 
depths of truth and glory, into which he was per- 
suaded that thoughtful minds might plunge farther 
and farther as time rolled on. The Bible was to 
him like the universe, a system unchangeable in its 
great facts and fundamental principles, but ever 
opening wider and M'ider upon devout and studious 
intellects. He knew there would be no change in 
God's word, no addition to or subtraction from its 
contents ; but he looked for beautiful and improv- 
ing changes in men's views — for broader, clearer, 
and grander conceptions of God's truth."* This 
was Eobinson's idea of " the development of Chris- 
tianity," and it was surcharged with profound phi- 
losophy as well as with sound practical direction 
and Christian pathos. The great Puritan teacher 
was neither a Socinian, a Pantheist, a Rationalist, 
nor a Mystic ; he claimed no kinship with the mon- 
ey-changers who scourge Christ out of the temple 
of his divinity ; least of all did he sympathize with 
those who reject the sufficiency of the Scripture 
text, and found their schemes of progress upon 
material bases. No ; Eobinson favored the most 
radical Christian progress, but he based his idea 
upon the Bible, and knew how to guard his notion 
of development from misconception and abuse. 
The evangelical believers of our day owe the fa- 
mous Leyden exile a lasting debt of gratitude for 
the clear distinction Avhich he has drawn between 
the progressive " liberty of the sons of God,'^ and 
* Stoughton, p. 97. 



FAEEWELL. 73 

tlie earth-born whims which materialism baptizes 
with the name of "progress." 

In this same sermon Eobinson pressed one other 
thing, exhibiting, in a bigoted and narrow age, 
rare catholicity of spirit. " Another thing I com- 
mend to you," he said ; " by all means shaka off 
the name of Broivnist* 'T is a mere nickname, a 
brand to make religion odious, and the professors 
of it, to the Christian world. To that end I should 
be glad if some godly minister would go over with 
3^ou before my coming ; for there will be no appre- 
ciable difference between the Puritans who have 
not renounced the church of England and you, 
when you come to the practice of the ordinances 
out of the British kingdom. By all means close 
with the godly party of England, and rather study 
union than division ; in how nearly we may possi- 
bly, without sin, close with them, than in the least 
measure to affect division or separation from them. 
Nor be je loath to take another pastor or teacher ; 
for that flock which hath two shepherds is not en- 
dangered, but secured thereby."t 

* The first separatists were so called after Eobert Brown, who, 
in the latter part of the sixteenth century, propounded a system 
of church government which contained many of the features of 
modern Congregationalism. Brown was born in 1549, and was a 
relative of Elizabeth's lord-treasurer, the famous Burleigh. In 
1582 he published his book, "The Life and Manners of True 
Christians, " and sufi"ered persecution therefor. Eventually, after 
a roving life, he conformed to the church of England, and was 
made rector in Northamptonshire. Shortly after, he died very 
miserably in a jail. Strype's Annals, vol. 2. Collier's Eccl. Hist., 
part 2, book 7. f Winslow's account of Eobinson's Sermon. 

I'Usrlm Fathei-B. 4 



74: THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

Thus abruptly ends this precious fragment ; 
and it may justly be esteemed one of the rarest 
verbal gems in the trophied casket of our Saxon 
tongue. 

Two vessels had been chartered for the voyage : 
the " Sjxedifell,'' a small ship of some sixty tons, 
and a larger vessel of a hundred and eighty tons, 
called the '' Mayfloiccrr^' The "Speedwell" lay 
moored at Delft Haven, a little seaport in the vicin- 
ity of Leyden.t The Pilgrims were to sail in this 
ship across the Channel to Southampton, where the 
" Mayflower " "would join them, and thence they 
were to launch in comf)any across the Atlantic4 

bn the 21st of July, 1620, the exiles quitted 
Leyden, which had been their quiet resting-place 
for eleven years, and journeyed to Delft Haven. 
" When the ship was ready to carry us away," 
wrote Edward Winslow, " the brethren that stayed 
at Leyden, having again solemnly sought the Lord 
with us and for us, feasted us that were to go, at 
our pastor's house, a commodious building. Here 
we refreshed ourselves, after tears, with singing 
psalms, making joyful melody in our hearts, as well 
as with the voice, there being many of the congre- 
gation very expert in music ; and indeed it was the 
sweetest melody that ever mine ears heard. After 
this our friends accompanied us to Delft Haven, 
where we were to embark, and there feasted us 

- Wilson's Pilgrim Fathers. Bradford, Belknap. 
t Elliot, Hist, of New England, vol. 1. Palfrey, etc. 
X Ibid., Bradford, Yoiing. 



FAEEWELL. 75 

again. And after prayer by our pastor, when a 
flood of tears was poured out, they accompanied 
us to the ship ; but we were not able to speak 
one to another for the abundance of sorrow to 
part."* 

Only a part of the colonists went aboard the 
" Speedwell" on the day of their arrival at Delft 
Haven ; the others tarried in the town over night, 
spending the hours in conversation and expressions 
of true Christian love.t " The morning light must 
have gleamed mournfully upon their eyes through 
the windows of the apartments where they assem- 
bled. It told them that the last daj^s of their pleas- 
ant intercourse with old, endeared friends had 
come, for the wind was fair, and the vessel was 
ready to weigh anchor and sail. And so they went 
down to the shore, whore the scene at Miletus was 
literally repeated, save that the people were the 
voyagers, instead of their apostolic father. Kobin- 
son ' kneeled down and prayed with them, and all 
wept sore, and fell uj)on his neck and kissed him, 
sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, 
that they should see his face no more; then he 
accompanied them to the ship.' Even the Dutch 
strangers, who saw the parting, stood and wept."| 

Then came the shrill " Yo hoy" of the seamen; 
final caresses were exchanged ; sail was hoisted; a 
salute was fired from the " Speedwell ;" and while 
the friends on shore watched the receding vessel 

* Winslow in Young's Chronicles. t Stonghton. 

t Ibid., p. 100. 



76 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

and strained their eyeballs to retain their vision, 
she glinted below the horizon, and Avas gone. 

Southampton was safelj and speedily reached ; 
" the Speedicell entered port to join the 3Iayfioiver — 
ships whose names have become hallowed, and are 
worthy of being placed, with the Argo of the an- 
cients, amid the constellations of heaven." 



THE FROZEN WILDERNESS. 77 



CHAPTEE V. 

THE FROZEN WILDEENESS. 

"Whoso shrinks or falters uow, 
Whoso to the j^oke woiild bow 
Brand the craven on his brow. 
Take your land of sun and bloom ; 
Only leave to freedom room 
For her plough, and forge, and loom. " 

WSTiTTIEE. 

At Soutlianipton the Pilgrims made no length- 
ened stay, pausing but to perfect some necessary 
final arrangements.* A fortnight later, on the 5tli 
of x4.ugust, 1620, the "Speedwell" and the "May- 
flower" weighed anchor, and hoisting sail, set out 
in company for America. The English soil had 
scarcely dipped below the horizon, when the 
"Speedwell" made signals of distress; she was 
found to leak badly. After consultation, the voy- 
agers wore ship, and put into Dartmouth harbor 
for repairs. Here the Pilgrims passed eight days, 
" to their great charge, and loss of time and a fair 
wind."t 

On the 21st of August, a fresh start was made. 
This time a hundred leagues of sea were passed, 
and the vessels were just rounding Land's End, 
when lo, the "Speedwell" again bore up under 

« Young's Chronicles. Bradford. f Bradford. 



78 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

pretence of unseaworthiness. Once more the shores 
of England were regained, and anchor was droj)ped 
in Plymouth harbor. The captain of the recusant 
ship, backed by his company, was dismayed at the 
dangers of the enterprise, and gaye out that the 
" Speedwell" was too weak for the yoyage. "Upon 
this," says Bradford, "it was resolyed to dismiss 
her and part of the company, and to proceed with 
the '3Iayflower.' This, though it was grieyous 
and caused great discouragement, was put into ex- 
ecution. So after they had taken out such proyis- 
ion as the 'Mayflower' could stow, and concluded 
both what number and what persons to send back, 
they had another sad parting, the one ship going 
back to London, and the other preparing for the 
yoyage. Those that retui'ned were such as, for the 
most part, were willing to do so, either out of dis- 
content or some fear conceiyed of the ill-success of 
a yoyage pressed against so many crosses, and in a 
year-time so far spent. Others, in regard to their 
own weakness and the charge of many young chil- 
dren, were thought least useful, and most unfit to 
bear the brunt of this hard adyenture ; unto which 
work of God and judgment of their brethren they 
were content to submit. And thus, like Gideon's 
army, this small number was diyided, as if the Lord 
thought eyen these few too many for the gi-eat work 
he had to do."* 

But though Cushman wrote, " Our yoyage thus 
far hath been as full of crosses as oiu'selyes of crook- 
s' Bradford, pp. 69, 70. 



THE FEOZEN AVILDERNESS. 79 

edness,"* no dangers conld appal the dauntless; 
and "having thus winnowed their numbers, the little 
band, not of resolute men only, but wives, some far 
gone in pregnancy, children, infants, a floating vil- 
lage, 5' et in all but one hundred souls, went on board 
the single ship, which was hired only to carry them 
across the Atlantic; and on the 6th of September, 
1620, thirteen years after the first colonization of 
Virginia, two months before the concession of the 
grand charter of Plymouth, without any warrant 
from the sovereign of England, without any useful 
charter from a corporate body, the Pilgrims in the 
'Mayflower' set sail for the New World, where 
the past could offer no favorable auguries." t 

But these Christian heroes of a grander venture 
than that classic voyage which "Virgil has sung of 
old -^neas, 

"TrojcG qui primus ab oris 

Italiam, fato profugus, Laviuaque venit 

Litora, "J 

unawed by the abounding perils of the sea and 
land, unchilled by the desertion of their comrades, 
kept on their solitary way, and "bated no jot of 
heart or hope." 

The "Mayflower" was a small vessel, yet smaller 
ones had repeatedly explored the ocean. " Colum- 
bus' 'ships' were from fifteen to thirty-two tons 
burden, and without decks. Frobisher had trav- 
ersed the watery waste with a vessel of twenty-five 

* Dated Dartmouth, August 17, 1620. Cushman remained in 
England. EUiot, vol. 1, p. 57. t Bancroft. 

t Virgil's Jilueid, book 1. 



80 THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 

tons, and Pring had coasted along the shores of 
New England in a bark of fifty tons. Those were 
manned by hardy seamen, to whom the tempest 
was a play-fellow; but these men and women and 
children knew nothing of the sea ; they only knew 
that ships sailed, and too often did not return; 
they had seen the sea, even along the coasts of 
England and Holland, lashed into fury. To trust 
themselves upon it on an uncertain voyage to a 
wilderness harbor" was no gala undertaking; yet 
serenely tliey accepted the situation, thankful to 
God for civil rights and untrammelled liberty to 
hymn his praises. 

" The voyage of the pioneer ship," says Elliot, 
" was long, tempestuous, and monotonous, as what 
sea-voyage is not? yet, with a firm purpose, she 
opened a way through the buffeting ocean towards 
the setting sun. Already its rays came to them a 
little shorn ; the autumn solstice was at hand, and 
winter not far away. In religious exercises, in hope- 
ful conversation, the exiles passed the weary days. 
These were varied by storms, and once by a great 
danger. In the straining of the ship, a strong tim- 
ber threatened to break. Then, among the lumber 
which iliej had brought, a large ' iron screw was 
found, and the ship was saved.' Their faces were 
turned westAvard, but who can wonder that a lin- 
gering look was cast behind, and that pleasant 
memories for a moment dimmed their recent suf- 
ferings and present hopes? Men, women, and chil- 
dren suffered the 'sickness of the sea,' that sick- 



THE FROZEN WILDERNESS. 81 

ness wliich is inexorable, which weakens the knees, 
burdens the heart, and paralyzes the brain. The 
sailors laughed and scoffed ; but to them it seemed 
that death was nigh. Yet it was not; one only of 
the whole number, William Butten, died during the 
voyage ; and one was born to take his place, a son 
of Stephen Hopkins, named Oceanus, the son of 
the sea. 

" Daily the Pilgrims turned their eyes westward, 
hoping for a sight of the new land. They had 
shaped their course for the Hudson river, of which 
the Dutch navigators had made favoiable reports. 
As the voyage lengthened, their longings for the 
land increased. They had been tossed on the sea 
now sixty-five days, when, on the 9th of November, 
the long, low coast-line of the New World glad- 
dened their eyes. They thanked God for the sight, 
and took courage. On the 11th of November they 
dropped anchor within Cape Cod. Sixty-seven days 
they had passed in the ship since their final depar- 
ture from England, and one hundred and twelve 
since the embarkation at Delft Haven. They were 
weary, many were sick, and the scurvy had attack- 
ed some. They might well rejoice that they had 
reached these shores."* 

On their departure from Holland, Robinson had 
handed them a long and pregnant letter of instruc- 
tion and advice. In this he counselled, among 
other things, the early formation of a body politic, 
and the inauguration of a civil government. " As 

* Elliot. Hist. New England, vol. 1, pp. 58, 59. 
4* 



82 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

you are not furnished with persons of special emi- 
nence above the rest to be chosen by you into office 
of government," he added, " let your wisdom and 
godliness appear not only in choosing such persons 
as do entirely love and will to promote your common 
good, but also in yielding unto them all due honor 
and obedience in their lawful administrations."^ 

In obedience to this sage counsel, the Pilgrims 
now, before landing, met to consider how their gov- ' 
ernment should be constituted ; and they formed 
themselves into a body politic by this formal, sol- 
emn, and voluntary compact : 

" In the name of God, Amen ; We whose names 
are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sov- 
ereign King James, having undertaken, for the glory 
of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and 
honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant 
the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, 
do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in 
the presence of God and of one another, covenant 
and combine ourselves together into a civil body 
politic, for our better ordering and preservation, 
and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by vir- 
tue hereof, to enact, constitute, and frame such just 
and equal laws, ordinances, constitutions, and offi- 
ces, from time to time, as shall be thought most 
convenient for the general good of the colony : unto 
which we promise all due submission and obedi- 
ence, 't 

<» See this whole letter in Bradford, pp. 64-67. 
t Bradford, Young, etc. 



THE FEOZEN WILDEKNESS. 83 

" This instrument — under which John Carver 
wag immediately and unanimously chosen governor 
for one year — was signed by the whole body of men, 
forty-one in number ; -who, with their families, con- 
stituted the one hundred, the whole colony, ' the 
proper democracy' that arrived in New England. 
This was the birth of popular constitutional liberty. 
The Middle Ages had been familiar with charters 
and constitutions ; but they had been merely com- 
pacts for immunities, concessions of municipal priv- 
ileges, or limitations of the sovereign power in favor 
of feudal institutions. In the cabin of the ' May- 
flower' humanity recovered its rights, and insti- 
tuted government on the basis of ' equal laAvs ' for 
* the general good.' "* 

Law and order provided for, the Pilgrims next 
proceeded to select the precise spot for their settle- 
ment. " The first Virginia colony," remarks Ban- 
croft, " sailing along the shores of North Carolina, 
was, by a favoring storm, driven into the magnifi- 
cent bay of the Chesapeake. The Pilgrims, having 
chosen for their settlement the country near the 
Hudson, the best position on the whole coast, 
were conducted, through some miscalculation, to 
the most barren and inhospitable part of Massa- 
chusetts."t 

It was a mooted question whether to plant a col- 
ony on this frigid coast, or to hoist anchor anew and 
set sail for the Hudson. The captain of the "May- 

« Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 310. This com]5act was signed Nov. 
11, 1G20. t Ibid., p. 309. 



84 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

flower" favored an immediate settlement;* and the 
voyagers, weary of the sea, and, perhaps, influenced 
by the fact that the winter began to breathe upon 
them, finally determined to send ashore a reconnoi- 
tering squad to sound the disposition of the natives, 
and to select a landing-spot. 

In 1584, the settlers under Sir Walter Ealeigh's 
patent had named the entire southeastern coast of 
North America Virginia, after Queen Elizabeth ; but 
in 1614 the name of New England began to be ap- 
plied to the more northern portion of this immense 
extent of territory ;t and thus it happened that here, 
on this wild coast, the Pilgrims had a dear home 
word still wrapped around them. 

On the 13th of November, the exiles unshipped 
their shallop. It was found to want repairs. Six- 
teen or seventeen days must elapse ere it could be 
gotten ready for service, so the carpenter said. Im- 
patient of delay, sixteen men, " with every man his 
musket, sword, and corslet," went ashore, headed 
by stout Miles Standish, the military leader of the 
Pilgrims.:!; 

' ' Short of statiire he was, but strongly built and athletic, 
Broad in the shoulders, deep-chested, with muscles and sinews 

of iron ; 
Brown as a nut was his face, but his russet beard was already 
Flaked with patches of snow, as hedges sometimes in November."§ 

* "Some have charged that the Dutch bribed the captain to de- 
ceive the Pilgrims. Bradford does not mention it, and the Dutch 
historians deny it." Elliot, vol. 1, p. 59. 

t Uhden, Wilson, Smith's Narrative, etc. 

X Bradford, Elliot, Bancroft. 

§ Longfellow'.s Courtship of Miles Standish. 



THE FROZEN WILDERNESS. 85 

"On account of the danger," the expedition " waa 
rather permitted than approved." But Standish and 
his comrades had braved peril too often to yield 
it obeisance. They found the shore inexpressibly 
bleak and barren. Winter had already set his icy 
kiss upon the streams. Nothing greeted their eyes 
but heavy sand, a few stunted pines, and some 
sweet woods, as junipers and sassafras. They made 
this record in their journal : " We found the great- 
est store of fowl that ever we saw."" 

Explorations were at once commenced. " They 
sent parties along the coast, and into the for- 
ests." "About ten o'clock one morning," says a 
member of the baud, " we came into a deep valley, 
full of brush, woodgaile, and tiny grass, through 
which we found little paths or tracks, and then we 
saw a deer, and found springs of fresh water, of 
which we were heartily glad, and sat us down 
and drank our first New England water."t Con- 
tinuing their march, they were perplexed by the 
frequent forest cross-paths. Once they struck a 
track " well nigh ten feet broad," which they thought 
might lead to some human habitation ; but eventu- 
ally they concluded that it Avas " only a path made 
to drive deer in when the Indians hunted." 

Still they found no natives ; and wearying of that 
path they took another, when, lo, they saw a mound 
" which looked like a grave, but was larger." " Mu- 
sing what it might be," they finally determined to 
examine. " We found," says the old chronicler, 

* Journal of the Pilgrims. t Ibid. 



86 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

" first a mat, and under that a fair bow, and then 
another mat, and under that a board about three 
feet long, finely carved and painted ; also between 
the mats we found bowls, trays, dishes, and such 
like trinkets. At length we came to a fair new mat, 
and under that two bundles — one bigger the other 
less. We opened the greater, and found in it a 
great quantity of fine and perfect red powder, and 
the bones and skull of a man. We opened the less 
bundle, and found the same powder in it, and the 
bones and head of a little child. 

" Once, when examining one of these grave 
mounds, we found a little old basket full of fair In- 
dian corn, and on digging farther, found a fine, great 
basket full of very fair corn of this year, with some 
thirty-six goodly ears of corn, which was a goodly 
sight; the basket was round and narrow at the top; 
it held about three or four bushels, which was as 
much as we could lift from the ground, and it was 
very handsomely and cunningly made."* 

This corn was carefully preserved for seed, " We 
took it," says the conscientious narrator, "propo- 
sing, as soon as we could meet Avith any of the 
inhabitants of that place, to make them large satis- 
faction."! And afterwards this corn was mentioned 
to Massasoit, the Indian king, Avhen the exiles prof- 
fered it back to the owners, and on their refusal of 
it, paid them in " whatsoever they might rather 
choose."! 

^ Journal of the Pilgrims. t Ibid, 

t Elliot, vol, 1, p. 61. 



THE FKOZEN WILDERNESS. 87 

This exploration was unsuccessful; as Avas also 
the first expedition in the shallop, which had been 
at length repaired. " Some of the people that died 
that winter took the origin of their death" in this 
second enterprise ; " for it snowed and did blow all 
the day and night, and froze withal." The men who 
were from time to time set on shore " were tired 
with marching up and down the steep hills and deep 
valleys, which lay half a foot thick with snow."*' 

Checkered by these adventures, the days passed 
away, and meantime the winter deepened. Nothing- 
had yet been done, the captain was impatient to 
be gone, and he threatened to set his passengers 
ashore at hap-hazard under the cheerless skies and 
bitter winds of drear December.f 

Pushed to renewed exertion by these considera- 
tions, the dauntless Pilgrims once more launched 
their shallop, and quitting their loved ones in the 
ship, again essayed to find some proper site for a 
settlement. This time Carver, Bradford, WinsloAV, 
and Standish, accompanied by eight sailors, made 
the coasting voyagcij: Infinite were the hardships 
which this little band, sailing in December, in an 
open boat, were compelled to undergo. " Some of 
them were like to have swooned with cold." " The 
Avater, dashing in spray upon their clothes, froze, 
and made them like coats of iron." For fifteen 
leagues they held on their cheerless course upon 
the winter sea. They had quitted the "Mayflower" 

<* Baneroft. t Bradford, Winslow. 

t Ibid. Young. Elliol Bancroft. 



88 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

on the 6tli of December ; two days later they hmded. 
" Whereupon," says the old chronicler," we espied 
some Indians, very busy about some black thing; 
what it was we could not tell, till, afterwards, they 
saw us, and ran to and fro as if they had been car- 
rying away something." "It was the body of a 
grampus. Ere long a great cry was heard, and one 
of the company came ninning in, shouting ' Indi- 
ans ! Indians !' This was followed by a flight of 
arrows ; but Captain Standish was ready, and 
quickly discharged his musket ; and then another, 
and another, so that the Indians retreated, and, ex- 
cept for the fright, no harm was done." " The cry 
of our enemies," remarks the narrator, " was fright- 
ful. Their note was after this manner: 'Woath 
tvach haha hack ivoach,' sounds which we may now 
utter Avitli safety — if we can."* This spot was after- 
wards known as " First Encounter." t 

No convenient harbor had yet been found. But 
" the pilot of the boat, who had been in these 
regions before, gave assurance of a good one which 
might be reached before night ; and they followed 
his guidance. After some hours' sailing, a storm of 
snow and rain began ; the sea was swollen ; the rud- 
der broke ; the boat had to be steered with oars. 
Every moment the storm increased ; night was at 
hand ; to reach harbor before dark, as much sail as 
possible was crowded on : then the mast broke into 
three pieces ; the sail fell overboard. The pilot, in 
dismay, would have run the shallop on shore in a 
* EUiot, vol. 1., pp. 62, 63. f Ibid. Bradford, Young. 



THE FEOZEN WILDEENESS. %^ 

cove full of breakers. 'About with her,' shouted 
a sailor, ' or we are cast away !' They got her 
about immediately, and, in joassing over the surf, 
they entered a fair sound, and found shelter under 
the lee of a small rise of land. It was dark, and the 
rain beat furiously ; yet the men Avere so wet, and 
cold, and weak, that they slighted the danger to be 
apprehended from the savages, and going ashore, 
after great difficulty kindled a fire. Morning, as it 
dawned, showed the place to be a small island with- 
out the entrance of a harbor. Time was j)recious ; 
the season advancing ; their companions were left 
off Cape Cod in suspense. Yet the day was required 
for rest and preparation. It was so spent. The fol- 
lowing day was the ' Christian Sabbath.' Nothing 
marks the character of the Pilgrims more fully than 
that they kept it sacredly though every considera- 
tion demanded haste."* 

On Monday, the llthf of December, 1620, the 
exploring shallop quitted the island Patmos, and, 
proceeding ujd the harbor, landed the Pilgrim scout- 
ing party, on that same immortal day, at Plym- 
outh Kock. There, in one sense, New England was 
born; and, as the Forefathers stepped upon the 
rock-ribbed shore, it uttered its first baby cry, a 
prayer and a thanksgiving to the Lord — an echo of 
the old Chaldean shepherds' song, " Glory to God 
in the highest; on earth peace, good- will to men." 

* Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 312. 

+ According to the new style of reckoning time, it was the 22d 
of DecemTjer, now kept as "Forefathers' Day." 



90 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE PILGKIM SETTLEMENT. 

"Quit ye as men ; be true then, who would fight 
In this so holy cause ; think ye a soul 
Weighed do^\-n by beggarly lusts can have a right 
To urge God's ark of freedom to its goal ? 
They must be holy who 're ordained to be 
The high priests of a people's liberty." 

Wilson. 

A SHOET survey of tlie surrounding country con- 
vinced tlie Pilgrim pioneers that the long-sought 
spot had at last been found. They determined to 
plant their settlement on Plymouth Eock, with no 
other seal than the broad one of the Divine sanc- 
tion. Entering their shallop, they soon regained 
the " Mayflower." Carver recited the story of their 
adventures to the clustering voyagers; and when 
he said that a spot had been found Avhere they 
might erect their Ebenczer, devoutly all thanked 
God. 

At once the "Mayflower's" course was shaped 
for Plymouth harbor, where she dropped anchor on 
the 16th of December.* The first law on the Pil- 
grim statute-book was, that each man should build 
his own house.f 

A few days after the arrival of the ship, " a 
party of colonists went ashore to fell timber, to 
saw, to rive, to carry, and prepare for the impor- 

c Bradford, Winslow. t Ibid., Elliot, Bancroft. 



THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT. 91 

tant work of building ; and that day every man 
worked with a will, hopefully and heartily. A new 
home, a pleasant refuge, future security, was the 
aim of every one, and while each cheered the other, 
the axes rang out in harmony with their hopes; 
their strokes were as heavy as their hearts were 
light. The crowned oaks of the forest did homage, 
and yielded their riches to found the infant state." 
After sufficient timber had been secured for present 
want, " many went to work on an adjacent hill" to 
prepare fortifications ; others measured the land, 
and allotted the lots for building."t 

The houses were ranged in a double row along 
one street ;'\. and for economic reasons the commu- 
nity was divided into nineteen families, an arrange- 
ment which necessitated fewer buildings and less 
outlay.§ Yet despite the energetic labors of the 
settlers, they made haste slowly. At that inclem- 
ent season it was almost impossible to build. 
Happil}^ the weather was moderate for December ;|| 
but rain fell incessantly, which was disastrous to 
the health of men already wasting away under con- 
sumptions and lung-fevers. 1[ It was remembered 
that "a green Christmas makes a fat church-yard." 

The Pilgrims were well satisfied with the site of 
their settlement, hard and sterile as it was. In- 
deed, they had a devout habit of looking on the 
good, rather than the evil of events, and this made 

'S Fort Hill, now Burial Hill. t Elliot, vol. 1, p. 66. 

X Now called Leyden-street. 

§ Elliot, Bradford, Yoimg's Chronicles. 

11 Journal of tlie Pilgrims. IT Ibid., Bancroft. 



92 THE PILGBIM FATHEES. 

even their crosses easier to be borne. " This har- 
bor," they said, "is a bay greater than Cape Cod, 
compassed with goodly land; and in the bay are 
two fine islands,* uninhabited, wherein are noth- 
ing but woods, oaks, pines, walnuts, beech, sas- 
safras, vines, and other trees which we know not. 
The ba}^ is a most hopeful place, and has innumer- 
able store of fowl and excellent food ; it cannot but 
contain fish in their seasons ; skate, cod, turbot, 
and herring, we have tasted of. Here is abundance 
of muscles, the greatest and best we ever saw, also 
crabs and lobsters in their time, infinite. The place 
is in fashion like a sickle or fish-hook. The land 
for the crust of the earth is a spit's depth, excellent 
black mould, and fat in many places; and vines are 
everywhere, and cherry-trees, plum-trees, and many 
others whose names we know not. Many kinds of 
herbs we find in winter hereabouts, as strawberry- 
leaves innumerable, sorrel, yarrow, carrot, brook- 
lime, liverwort, water-cresses, great store of leeks, 
and an excellent strong kind of flax or hemp. Here 
is sand, gravel, an excellent clay, no better in the 
world, exceeding good for pots, and it will wash 
like soap ; we have the best water that ever we 
drank, and the brooks will soon be full of fish."t 

So runs the journal of the Pilgrims. Hopeful 
and thankful for what they had, they seemed anx- 
ious to be pleased, and to make the best even of 

* One of these was Clarke's Island ; the other was probably 
Saquish Peninsiila. 

t Young's Chronicles. Journal of the Pilgrims 



THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT. 93 

their ills. It was in iio sour and bitter spirit tliat 
they 

' ' Leaned their cheeks against the thick-ribbed ice, 
And looked up wdth devout eyes to Him 
Who bade them bloom, unblanched, amid the waste 
Of desolation. " 

After all, perhaps it was well even for their pres- 
ent safety that they had landed on the bleak New 
England strand. " Had they been carried, accord- 
ing ta their desire, unto Hudson's river," says Cot- 
ton Mather, " the Indians in those parts were at 
this time so many and so mighty and so sturdy, 
that in probability all this feeble number of Chris- 
tians had been massacred by the bloody savages, 
as not long after some others were ; whereas the 
good hand of God now brought them to a country 
wonderfully prepared for their entertainment by a 
sweeping mortality that had lately been among the 
natives. 'We have heard with our ears, O God, 
our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in 
their days, in the times of old ; how thou dravest 
out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst 
them ; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast 
them out.' The Indians in these parts had newly, 
even about a year or two before, been visited with 
such a prodigious pestilence, as carried away not a 
tenth, but nine parts of ten; yea, 'tis said, nineteen 
of twenty among them ; so that the woods were 
almost cleared to make room for a better growth. 

** It is remarkable that a Frenchman, who, not 
long before the Pilgrim settlement, had by a ship- 



94: THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

wreck been made captive among tlie Indians of 
New England, did, as tlie survivors rej)ort, just be- 
fore he died in their hands, tell these tawny jaagans 
that ' God, being angry with them for their wicked- 
ness, would not only destroy them all, but also peo- 
ple the place with another nation, which would not 
live after their brutish manner.' Those infidels 
then blasphemously said, ' God could not kill them,' 
which was confuted by a horrible and unusual 
plague, whereby they were consumed in such vast 
multitudes, that our first ancestors found the land 
almost covered with their unburied carcasses ; and 
they that were alive were smitten into awful and 
humble regard of the English by the terrors which 
the remembrance of the Frenchman's prophecy had 
imprinted on them.""'^ 

During the first few months of their wilderness 
life, little occurred of special public interest among 
the Pilgrims. The routine of their days was undis- 
turbed. Engrossed by the pressing present duties 
of the hour, they labored to complete their prepa- 
rations for the winter. Their existence was that 
which is common in all pioneer settlements, which 
has been led a thousand times since on our west- 
ern prairies, and which is led to-day by the settler 
who rears his log-cabin under the shadow of the 
E/Ocky mountains. 

The country seemed lonely and monotonous.t 
" Among the few recorded incidents," says Elliot, 

* Cotton Mather, Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 51. 
t Ibid., Elliot, Felt. 



THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT. 95 

" we gather here and there some facts which serve 
to ilkistrate the social and moral condition of the 
exiles during these initial months of their western 
life. On the 21st of January, 1621, they celebrated 
public worship for the first time on shore. On the 
17th of February, Standish was chosen captain, and 
all were arranged in military orders. This may be 
called their first legislative act, the first commiinal 
life of men who believed in and were forced to act 
out the principle of self-government ; every man 
could vote, and tlie ballot of the lowest colonist 
counted the same as Governor Carver's. Births 
and deaths varied the monotony of existence. Per- 
egrine White, the first born in New England, had 
appeared in November, and six persons had died in 
December, among whom was Dorothy, Bradford's 
wife, who was drowned. This was the beginning 
of a mortahty which carried dismay and destruc- 
tion into the weakened ranks."* 

Measures were taken for the military protection 
of the colony. " A minion, a saker, and two other 
guns, were mounted on Fort Hill," where a block- 
citadel had been erected.t Standish was the heau 
ideal of a soldier — alert, provident, tireless. The 
words which Longfellow has put into his mouth 
exhibit his genial humor and quaint wisdom : 

' ' ' Serve yourself, would you be well served, is an excellent adage ; 
So I take care of my arms, as scribes of their pens and theiv 
ink-liorns. 

o EUiot, p. G7. 

t Ibid. Journal of the Pilgrims. Young, Bradford. 



98 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

Then, too, there are my soldiers, my great, invincible army, 
Twelve men, all equipped, having each his rest and his match- 
lock. 
Eighteen shillings a mouth, together with diet and pillage, 
And, like Ccesar, I know the name of each of my soldiers. ' 
This he said with a smile, that danced in his eyes, as the sun- 
beams 
Dance on the waves of the sea, and vanish again in a moment."* 

The peculiar situation of the Pilgrims tended to 
increase that rugged individuality, that self-confi- 
dent earnestness, that somewhat dogmatic vigor, 
which already characterized them, and which is 
stiU a salient trait of their descendants. There 
they stood on a bleak and desolate shore ; be- 
reaved of symj)athy at home, without friends in the 
wilderness, " with none to show them kindness or 
to bid them welcome." The nearest French settle- 
ment was at Port Eoyal ; it was five hundred miles 
and more of trackless forest to the English planta- 
tion of Virginia.! The exiles were obliged to be 
self-centred ; cut off from the outer world and iso- 
lated, they could entertain no friends but God and 
each other. 

We can hardly be sufficiently thankful for the 
singular combination of circumstances which pro- 
duced the Plymouth settlement in 1620. "Had 
New England been colonized immediately on the 
discovery of the American continent, the old Eng- 
lish institutions would have been planted under the 
powerful influence of the Roman religion ; had the 
settlement been made under Elizabeth, it would 

■-■ Longfellow's Miles Standish, p. 11. 
•\ Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 310. 



THE PILGEIM SETTLEMENT. 97 

have been before activity of tlie public mind in 
religion liad conducted to a corresponding activity of 
mind in politics." God builded better than men 
knew ; and when the time was ripe, he chose " the 
Pilgrims, Enghshmen, Protestants, exiles for reli- 
gion, men disciplined by misfortune, cultivated by 
opportunities of extensive observation, equal in rank 
as in rights, bound by no code but that of rehgion 
and the iDubhc will,"* and with these elements He 
planted a model state, and bade it grow into a dem- 
ocratic, Christian commonwealth, that it might be 
at once an exemplar and a benefactor to mankind. 
The Pilgrims cheerfully accepted peril and dis- 
comfort to build such a state. Peace under liberty — 
sub Ubertate quietem— this was their aspiration, and 
they said, 

"We ask a shrine for faith and simple prayer, 
Freedom's sweet waters, and untainted air. "f 

o Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 308. 

f "Exiguam sedem sacris, litusque rogamus 

Innocuum, et cunctis undamque ; auramque ; patentem." 
■ Cotton Mather, Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 52. 



Pilgrim Fatliera 



98 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PIONEER LIFE. 

' ' E'en the best must omti, 
Patience and resignation are the pillars 
Of human peace on earth." 

Young, Night Thoughts. 

Happily, God blessed the Pilgrims with an 
early and mild spring.'^ By the middle of March 
the birds began to sing ; the streams shook off 
their icy cerements ; the rills ran laughing to the 
sea ; Nature put on her gala drapery ; the myriad 
wild flowers opened their drowsy eyes ; the time 
had come for the ever-marvellous resurrection of 
the year. The forests seemed instinct with life. 
On every hill-side nature hymned her j)raise. 

The settlers shared in the buoyant and joyous 
feeling. They had met and mastered the New 
England winter. Their houses were built. Their 
family arrangements were completed ; and now 
"the fair, warm days" of spring, the idyl of the 
year, were a harbinger of hope. 

Careful and provident, the Pilgrims improved 
this delightful weather in planting. " On the 19th 
and 20th of March," says the old chronicler, "we 
digged our grounds and sowed our garden-seed, "t 
This done, individual members of the community 

« Bancroft, Banvard, Elliot, Felt, 
t Journal of the Pilgrims. 



PIONEEE LIFE. 99 

began to stray into the bordering forest, incited 
thereto partly by natural curiosity to familiarize 
themselves with the salient local features of their 
wilderness homes, and partly by the pursuit of 
game. Sometimes the tyro hunters were startled 
by strange sights and noises ; for to them the dim, 
still woods were a mystery. " John Goodman was 
much frightened this day" — so runs the entry in 
the Journal on one occasion — "he went abroad 
for a little walk with his spaniel. Suddenly two 
great wolves ran after the dog, which ran to him 
and betwixt his legs for succor. He, having noth- 
ing with him, threw a stick at one of them, and hit 
him, and they presently both ran away; but they 
came again. He got a plain board in his hand, and 
they sat both on their tails grinning at him a good 
time. At last they went their way and left him. 
He could not move fast, as he had lame feet."-' 

On another occasion a storm is recorded: "At 
one o'clock it thundered. The birds sang most 
pleasantly before this. The thunder was strong, 
and in great claps, followed by rain very sadly till 
midnight, "t 

Thus far they had seen no Indians since land- 
ing at Plymouth. Traces of them abounded. Pale 
wreaths of smoke, which curled above the forest- 
trees, gave certain token that they lurked in the 
vicinity. The settlers knew that they must ere long 
meet the aborigines, and they awaited the event 
with mingled hope and apprehension. 

* Young's Chron. of the Pilg's. Pilgrims^ Jour. f Ibid. 



100 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

On the 16th of March, one of the warmest, pleas- 
antest days of the early spring, a nnmber of the 
Pilgrims — Bradford, Winslow, Hopkins, and Car- 
ver, among the rest — were gathered on the skirts of 
the settlement, chatting over their plans and proj- 
ects for the coming days, when suddenly a guttural 
shout was heard, and the words " Welcome, English- 
men/" spoken in broken Saxon, fell on their ears.* 

The astonished settlers started to their feet, and 
glancing in the direction whence the words had 
seemed to come, discerned on the edge of the forest 
a single dusky figure, waving a hand and advancing 
boldly towards them. In deep silence the Pilgrims 
awaited his approach. On reaching the group, the 
Indian greeted them warmly, repeating his welcome. 
Reassured by his friendly gestures and hearty rep- 
etition of the familiar English phrase in which only 
kindness lurked, the settlers cordially returned his 
greeting; and knowing that the way to the heart 
lies through the stomach, they at once gave their 
dusky guest " strong water, biscuit, butter, cheese, 
and some pudding, with a piece of mallard."t 

The heart of the savage was gained ; the taci- 
turnity characteristic of his race gave way, and he 
told his entertainers many things which they had 
long desired to know. 

They ascertained that he was a chief of a tribe 
of Indians whose hunting-grounds were distant five 
days' journey; that the country in their vicinity was 
called Pawtuxet ; that some years previous a pesti- 

* Bradford, Young, Pilgrims' Journal. f Ibid. 



PIONEER LIFE. lUl 

lence had swept off the tribes that inhabited the 
district, so that none remained to claim the soil. 

When asked how he came to speak English, he 
repHed that he had picked uj) what Httle he knew 
from the fishermen who frequented the coast of 
Maine. In response to inquiries concerning the 
interior of the country and the tribes inhabiting 
the inland plateaus, he imparted valuable informa- 
tion.* 

The Pilgrims gleaned these facts from his reci- 
tal : A sagamore named Massasoit was their nearest 
powerful neighbor. He was disposed to be fr-iendlj ; 
but another tribe, called the Nausets, were greatly 
incensed against the English, and with sufficient 
cause. It seems that a captain by the name of 
Hunt, who had been left in charge of a vessel by 
Captain Smith in 1614, had lured twenty or thirty 
of their brother red men on board his ship on pre- 
tence of trading; then, when they accepted his invi- 
tation, he set sail for Spain, where he sold his vic- 
tims into slavery.t 

The whole Nauset tribe panted to avenge the 
atrocious treachery of " this wretched man, who 
cared not what mischief he did for his profit;" and 
it was with them that the Pilgrims had had their 
skirmish when exploring the coast in the December 
sleet.:}: 

The Indian from whose broken Enghsh these 
things were learned was Samoset. He was the first 
of the aborigines who held friendly and intelHgent 
* Bradford, Young. f Ibid. Pilgrims' Journal. J Ibid. 



102 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

intercoTirse witli the forefathers. His frank, hearty 
" welcome" was the only one the Pilgrmis received ; 
and his faithful, life-long attachment to the English 
interests, which " made him often go, in danger of 
his life, among his countrymen," won the grateful 
recognition of the exiles, and deserves the plaudits 
of posterity. 

Samoset was the first Indian whom many of the 
Pilgrims had ever seen. He was therefore scan- 
ned with no little curiosity. He is thus described 
in the Journal of the Pilgrims : " He was a man 
free in speech ; a tall, straight man ; the hair of his 
head black, long behind, short before, and no beard. 
He was stark naked, save only a strip of leather 
about his waist, with a fringe a span long or a little 
more. He had a bow and two arrows, the one 
headed, the other not."* 

The settlers treated Samoset with great hospi- 
tality, as duty and sound policy alike demanded. 
Nevertheless, when night came they desired him to 
leave. This he seemed loath to do. They proposed 
that he should lodge on board the "Mayflower." 
He assented ; but the tide was so low and the wind 
was so fresh, that the shallop could not gain the 
vessel's side. Nothing remained but to entertain 
their guest on shore. He was conducted to the 
house of Stephen Hopkins,t and was stealthily 
Avatched, " as we feared evil," comments the narra- 
tor ; "which, however, did not come."| 

=■' Pilgrims' Journal. t Elliot, vol. 1, p. 71. 

X Pilgrims' Journal. 



PIONEEK LIFE. 103 

On the following morning, Samoset quitted Plym- 
outh, carrying with him a variety of presents, a knife, 
a bracelet, a ring ; and he promised to return soon 
and bring with him some of Massasoit's Indians, to 
op6n a trade in furs wdth the colonists." He also 
said that he would do his utmost towards securing 
an interview between the English and the Indian 
sagamore, as preliminary to a lasting treaty and a 
prosperous peace. f 

Samoset, true to his promise, did indeed return 
within three days, bringing with him five compan- 
ions. All were cordially welcomed ; but as it was Sun- 
day, no business was transacted, the guests being 
dismissed as early "as possible. Samoset remained at 
Plymouth ; his friends affirmed their purpose to come 
again on the morrow. The morrow came but the 
Indians did not. Samoset was sent in quest of 
them. The next day he returned again, this time 
with four other warriors, each pro%ided with a few 
skins and dried herrings, which they were anxious 
to barter. 

One of these Indians was named Squanto. His 
history was somewhat romantic. He belonged to 
the company kidnapped by Hunt and sold in 
Spain. There he, with the others, had been Hbera- 
ted through the exertions of the monks of Malaga, 
and he had made his way to England. He dwelt 
in Cornhill, London, with an English merchant, for 
some time; and thence he had finally made his 
way back to his forest home, to be, as the event 

* Bradford, Young. \ Ibid. Banvard. 



104 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

proved, a valuable frieud, interpreter, and ally to 
the whites.* 

Samoset and his friends were but the advance 
guard of a larger host. An hour later, Massasoit 
himself appeared on a neighboring slope, accompa- 
nied by his brother, Quadequina, and a cloud of 
warriors. At the outset both Englishman and In- 
dian were shy of each other ; but at last, after much 
passing to and fro, they came to parley. Massasoit 
and Standish saluted each other ; after which the 
soldier conducted the sachem to an unfinished house 
in the vicinage, where he laid for his guest a green 
rug and four cushions.f 

Presently the Pilgrim govern6r advanced, in as 
great state as he could command, with beat of drum 
and blare of trumpet, and a squad of armed men 
as a body-guard. Salutations, which consisted of 
mutual kisses, being over, the governor and the sag- 
amore seated themselves. Meat was then served, 
and the new friends drank to each other's health 
and happiness.:!^ 

* Bancroft, Elliot, Banvard. 

f Bradford, Pilgrims' Journal. 

"On the 22d of March, the first interview took place between 
the Pilgrims and the Indians, with their great chief Massasoit, 
Squanto acting as interpreter. This was conducted becomingly 
on both sides, and according to the manner of the time. After 
Gov. Carver had drunk some 'strong water' — rum — to the sachem, 
Massasoit 'drunk a great draught that made him sweat all the 
while after.' The result of the conference was an alliance, offen- 
sive and defensive, between the governor and the chief, api^lauded 
by the followers of both, and Massasoit was received as an ally of the 
dread King James. " Elliot, vol. 1, p. 72. 

J Young's Chronicles, Pilgrims' Journal. 



PIONEEK LIFE. 105 

NegotiatioDS ensued; and " a treaty of friendsliip 
was soon completed in few and unequivocal terms. 
The respective parties promised to abstain from 
mutual injuries, and to deliver up offenders ; the 
colonists were to receive assistance if attacked ; to 
render it, if Massasoit should be assailed unjustly. 
The treaty included the confederates of the sachem : 
it is the oldest act of dij^lomacy recorded in New 
England; it was concluded in a day, and, being 
founded on reciprocal interests, was sacredly kept 
for more than half a century. Massasoit desired 
the alliance, for the powerful Narragansetts were 
his enemies ; his tribe, moreover, having become 
habituated to some English luxuries, were willing 
to establish a traffic ; while the emigrants obtained 
peace, security, and the opportunity of a lucrative 
commerce."* 

Massasoit is thus described by the Pilgrim jour- 
nalist : " In his person he is a very lusty man, in 
his best years, an able body, grave of countenance, 
and spare of speech ; in his attire little or nothing- 
differing from the rest of his followers, save only in 
a great chain of white beads about his neck ; be- 
hind his neck, attached to the chain, hangs a 
pouch of tobacco, which he smoked, and gave us 
to smoke. His face was painted with a seal red, 
and he was oiled both head and face that he looked 
greasily, "t 

The sagamore's favorite haunts were along the 
northern shores of Narragansett Bay, between 

* Bancroft, p. 317. t Pilgrims' Journal, p. 58. 

5* 



106 THE PILGPvIM FATHEKS. 

Taunton and Providence, one of his principal seats 

being Mount Hope,* that 

"throne of royal state, which far 

Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Ind, 

Or where the gorgeous east, with richest hand, 

Showers on her kings barbaric pomp and gold." 

In the latter part of March, 1621, an event oc- 
curred which evinced alike the promptitude and the 
decision of the self-governed Puritan colony. It has 
been said that "God sifted three kingdoms to get 
the Pilgrim wheat" of the New England enterprise; 
yet despite this care the chaff was not all gotten 
rid of. It seems that one John Billington, a "lewd 
fellow of the baser sort," had come from London 
and smuggled himself on board the " Mayflower," 
for the purpose of stealing a voyage to the new 
world. He had no sympathy with the rehgious feel- 
ings of the Pilgrims, nor did he share their love of 
order and civil liberty .f He had frequently given 
offence, and now he was convicted of " contempt of 
the captain's lawful command, and of making op- 
probious speeches. ":{: His sentence was peculiar : 
" he was to have his neck and heels tied together."§ 
He begged so hard that he was forgiven on this oc- 
casion ; but he continued to be a profane, ungov- 
ernable, vicious knave, and finally came to a bad 
end. 

At about this same time another offence was 
committed against the civil peace of the colony. 
Two servants of Stephen Hopkins met and fought 

* EUiot, p. 73. j- Bancroft, Pilgrims' JournaL 

t Ibid. § Ibid. 



PIONEER LIFE. 107 

a duel with sword and dagger. Both combatants 
were wounded ; but they were immediately seized, 
convicted, and sentenced " to have their head and 
feet tied together, and so to lie for twenty-four hours 
without meat or drink."* 

The hostile lackeys were bound, in exact ac- 
cordance with the verdict ; but " after lying an 
hour they begged piteously for mercy ; whereon the 
governor, on the entreaty of their master, released 
them, they promising to keep the peace in future."t 

These sentences convinced the refractory that 
the colonial government was something more than 
the shadow of a name ; and it held them in awe 
of provoking its severity. 

Through all these months disease was busy 
among the Pilgrims. But though pain racked many 
a weakened form, no one spoke of returning to Eng- 
land. As winter faded into spring the mortality 
became dreadful. Every house was a hospital. 

' ' There was no hearthstone, howsoe'er defended, 
But had one vacant chair." 

"Death," says EUiot, "had reaped a ripe, fat 
harvest, and of the one hundred scarce fifty re- 
mained. Six had died in December ; eight in Jan- 
uary ; seventeen in February ; thirteen in March.":]: 
Yet the Pilgrims kissed the rod ; and though " the 
searching sharpness of that pure cHmate had 
crept into the crevices of their crazed bodies, caus- 
ing death,"§ they said "the Lord gave and the 

« Pilgrims' Journal, t Banvard. 

X Elliot, p. 74. § Bradford's Journal. 



108 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

Lord hath taken awa}' ; blessed be the name of the 
Lord." 

The dead were buried in a bank, at a little dis- 
tance from Plymouth rock ; and lest the Indians 
should learn the weakened condition of the colony, 
the graves were levelled, and sown with grass."^ 
Over these the unflinching survivors locked hands, 
and wiping their eyes, looked up, firm, devout, hope- 
ful as ever. 

In April, 1621, Governor Carver died. " Whilst 
they were busy about their seed, he came out of the 
field very sick, it being a hot day. He complained 
greatly of his head, and lay down ; within a few 
hours his senses failed, and he never spoke more. 
His death was much lamented, and caused great 
heaviness, as there was cause, "f Shortly after, 
WiUiam Bradford, the historian of the colony, was 
elected governor, "and being not yet recovered from 
a severe illness, in which he had been near the point 
of death, Isaac Allerton was chosen to be an assist- 
ant unto him.":|: 

On the very day of Carver's death, the 5th of 
April, the " Mayflower" sailed for England.§ Not 
a soul returned in her of that devoted band. It has 
been well said that the departure of the "May- 
flower" surpasses in dignity, though not in despera- 
tion, the burning of his ships by Cortez. Through 
the struggles of the winter she had always been in 

* Holmes' Annals, Thatcher's Plymouth, p. 37. 
t Bradford, Hist. Plymouth Plantation, p. 101. 
X Ibid. § Holmes, Thatcher, Elliot, etc. 



PIONEEE LIFE. 109 

siglit, a place of refuge and relief in any desperate 

emergency. While the good ship lay moored in 

Plymouth harbor, they had a hold upon the outer 

world. But now, as grouped upon the shore they 

stood and watched her, as she slowly spread her 

sails and crept out of the bay and from their sight, 

they felt inexpressibly dreary and bereaved : when 

the sun set in the western forest, the " Mayflower" 

had disappeared in the distant blue.* 

' ' Can ye scan the woe 
That wriugs their bosoms, as this last frail link 
Binding to man and habitable earth 
Is severed.? Can ye tell what pangs were there, 
What keen regrets, what sickness of the heart, 
What 3'earuing o'er their forfeit land of birth ; 
Their distant dear ones?"f 

But they did not long despair. " The sky was 
not inky, nor their future desperate," says Elliot ; 
" the sun still shone gloriously ; the moon still bathed 
the earth with light ; and the stars kept their cease- 
less vigils. Spring here, as of old, followed winter, 
the murmuring of streams was heard, and the song 
of the turtle; birds builded their nests, the tender 
grass sprang up under their feet, and the trees bud- 
ded and burst forth in wondrous beauty. God was 
over all — God, their God, their Friend — their pro- 
tector here as in the older world ; nay, more their 
helper now than ever before,"^ for they were the 
orphans of humanity. 

• Elliot, p. 75. t Sigourney. t Elliot, ut antea. 



no THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FIRST SUMMER IN NEW ENGLAND. 

"The spring's gay promise melted into thee, 
Fair summer ; and thy gentle reign is here ; 
Thy emerald robes are on each leafy tree ; 

In the blue sky thy voice is rich and clear ; 
And the free brooks have songs to bless thy reign— 
They leap in music 'midst thy bright domain." 

Wllus G. Clakk. 

God lias transmuted the primal curse into a 
blessing. Labor is a panacea for many ills ; and 
now the fullness of their new life crowded out home- 
sickness and all fainting of the heart among the Pil- 
grim exiles. They had no time for dreams. The 
weighty cares of the present exorcised every fever- 
ed phantom of regret and apprehension. 

Swiftly and pleasantly in the manifold employ- 
ments of the field passed the glowing, pregnant 
spring. The exiles knew that they were set to sub- 
due the wilderness, to marry the continent with 
roads, to dot the forests with schools and churches 
and hamlets. Daily and nightly they invoked God's 
blessing on their infant colony ; and with God's kiss 
upon their brows, they toiled in the full assurance 
of success — they knew that hope would be changed 
to full fruition. 

Thus far they had experienced no lack of food. 
The variety afforded by wild fowl, fish, and the na- 



THE FIRST SUMMEE. HI 

tive fruits, together with the stores which they had 
brought with them in the " Mayflower," amply suf- 
ficed to supply the cravings of hunger.* For the 
future the presage was good. The crops promised 
Avell. Six acres had been sown with pease and bar- 
ley. Twenty acres had been planted with the seed- 
corn which it had been the good fortune of the 
exiles to dig out of the subterranean Indian store- 
houses ;t this Squanto, the friendly Indian inter- 
preter, had instructed them how to sow and hill and 
manure with fish.:]: 

' ' Like the swell of some sweet tune, 
Morning rises into noon, 
May glides onward into June ;" 

and as the season advanced, native grapes and 
berries were found in endless variety and inex- 
haustible abundance. The Pilgrim journalist also 
records that wild-flowers of various hues and " very 
sweet" fragrance contributed their beauty and in- 
cense to the charming summer scene.§ 

" A visitor to Plymouth, in this first summer of 
the Puritan settlement, as he landed on the south- 
ern side of a high bluif, would have seen, standing 
between it and a rapid little stream, a rude log- 
house, twenty feet square, containing the common 
property of the plantation. Proceeding up a gentle 
acclivity between two rows of log-cabins, nineteen 
in number, some of them perhaps vacant since the 

* Bradford, Young, Thatcher. 

t Pilgrims' Journal. Winslow. J Ibid. 

§ Pilgrims' Journal. 



112 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

death of their first tenants, ho would have come to 
a hill, encircled by a plank platform for cannon. 
And glancing thence over the landscape, he might 
have counted twenty men at work with hoes in the 
enclosures about the huts, or fishing in the shallow 
harbor, or visiting the woods or the beach for game ; 
while six or eight women were busy in household 
affairs, and some twenty children, from infancy up- 
ward, completed the domestic picture."'-" 

The month of June found the colonists so far 
advanced in the necessary labors of the season, 
that they gained a little leisure to open the volume 
of local nature, and to scan its pages more accu- 
rately than had been possible in the haste of the 
initial December days. 

Many a lesson was taken by the wondering set- 
tlers in New England forestry under the skilful 
tuition of Squanto or Samoset. " Once," says the 
quaint old record, " a j)arty of us got belated in the 
forest, where the night was spent ; in the morning, 
wandering from the track, we were shrewdly puz- 
zled, and lost the way. As Ave wandered, we came 
to a tree, where a young sprit was bowed down over 
a bow, and some acorns strewed underneath ; Ste- 
phen Hopkins said it had been fixed to catch deer; 
so as we Avere looking at it, William Bradford being 
in the rear, when he came up looked also upon it, 
and as he went about, it gave a sudden jerk up, so 
that he was immediately caught fast by the leg. 
It was a very pretty device, made with a rope of 

• Palfi-ey, Hist. New England, vol. 1, p. 182. 



THE FIRST SUMMER. 113 

their own making, and having a noose as artificially 
fixed as any roper in England could mako, and as 
like ours as can be : this we brought away with 
us."* This was a pleasant jest to the hunters, in 
which the gravest of them doubtless indulged in a 
laugh at their too curious governor, thus caught in 
the Indian deer-trap. The hint, however, was well 
worth their study ; and often afterwards it served 
them a good turn, ere their ringing axes frightened 
the timid deer into following the dusky native hunt- 
ers beyond the encroaching and ever-widening cir- 
cle of civilization. 

To increase the general stock of information, 
and to relieve the routine tedium of the settlement, 
several expeditions were planned during this first 
summer ; and these looked into the continent a few 
miles distant in the east, the north, and the west.f 

The first of them took the shape of an embassy 
to Massasoit. As the warm weather brought the 
Indians to the seashore in search of lobsters and 
to fish, they proved to be a sad annoyance to the 
colonists. They were treated with uniform cour- 
tesy, and this kindness furnished a motive for fre- 
quent visits, so that men, women, and children, were 
always hanging about the village, clamorous for 
food and pertinaciously inquisitive. It was partly 
to abate this nuisance, and "partly," says the old 
chronicle, " to know where to find our savage allies, 
if occasion served, as also to see their strength, ex- 
plore the country, make satisfaction for some inju- 
* Pilgrims' Journal. t Palfrey, toL 1, p. 182. 



114 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

ries conceived to have been done on our parts, and 
to continue the league of peace and friendship be- 
tween them and us,"* that Stephen Hopkins and 
Edward Winslow were now delegated to wait upon 
the friendly sagamore in his forest home. 

In July, 1621, these earliest negotiators of New 
England set out upon their mission, " not with the 
pomp of modern diplomats, but through the forest 
and on foot, to be received, not to the luxuries of 
courts, but to share in the abstinence of savage 
life." Marks of the devastation caused by the pes- 
tilence which had preceded their settlement, of 
"the arrows that flew by night," were visible wher- 
ever the envoys went, and they witnessed the ex- 
treme poverty and feebleness of the aborigines.! 

On, on pressed the Englishmen through the in- 
tricate mazes of the woods, and they never ceased 
to wonder at the ease and certainty with which 
Squanto, who accompanied them as guide and in- 
terpreter, picked out the right path from the laby- 
rinthine tracks.:}: A walk of fifteen miles brought 
them to an almost " deserted village," called Na- 
mashet, in what is now Middleborough, where the 
few remaining natives received them with the most 
gracious rites of Indian hospitality, and gave them 
" a kind of bread," and the spawn of shad boiled 
with old acorns. § Here they tarried for an hour in 
the afternoon. Eight miles farther inland they bi- 
vouacked, with the sky for a covering and the trees 

"» Pilgi'ims' Journal. f Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 317, 318. 

X Chronicles of the Pilgrims. § Ibid., Palfrey. 



THE FIEST SUMMER. 115 

for blankets. A number of Indians had assembled 
at tills place to fish, but these had erected no sliel- 
ter. Around them they discerned under the moon- 
light the evident marks of former extensive cultiva- 
tion. "Thousands of men had lived there," says 
Winslow, the historian of the mission, " who died 
in the great plague not long since."* 

In the morning, rising early, they resumed their 
journey. Their retinue was swollen by six savages 
who insisted ujDon bearing them company, and who 
bore their arms and baggage. At the various fords 
the friendly red men carried the Englishmen across 
dry-shod upon their shoulders,! a mark of unpre- 
cedented complaisance when coming from the pro- 
verbially lazy Indian of the northeast coast. 

In due time the envoys reached Pokanoket, the 
residence of Massasoit. The sachem was not at 
home. Ere long, however, he returned. The Eng- 
lishmen received him royally, and saluted him by a 
discharge of their muskets. Massasoit reciprocated 
their greeting in true Indian style.:!: 

The Pilgrims had been careful to provide their 
envoys with a plentiful supply of those trinkets 
which the red men so highly prized ; and now, ere 
any business was opened, these presents w^ere de- 
livered. The sagamore was given " a horseman's 
coat of red cotton, decked with a slight fringe of 
lace," and a copper chain. When he had put on 
this scarlet garment, and hung the chain abovit his 

° "Winslow in Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 201. 

t Ibid. t Ibid. 



116 THE PILGKIM FATHEES. 

neck, he seemed greatly pleased by his unwonted 
bravery of attire, while his warriors appeared to be 
equally gratified by the grand appearance of their 
king.* 

This ceremony completed, all squatted upon the 
ground, a circle was formed, and amid deep silence 
the pipe of peace was smoked, each individual 
taking a whiff and then jDassing the pipe to his 
next neighbor. After this — and it should seem 
that even among the untamed children of the for- 
est there existed a " circumlocution office," where 
there was red tape to be cut — the envoys explained 
the object of their visit. The sagamore listened 
courteously to their recital, and was pleased to 
grant each and all of their requests. 

" To the end that we might know his messen- 
gers from others," wi'ites Winslow, " we desired 
Massasoit, if any one should come from him to us, 
to send the copper chain, that we might know the 
savage, and hearken and give credit to his message 
accordingly." t 

The sagamore seemed well content to renew the 
alliance with the English. He promised to promote 
the traffic in skins, to furnish a supj)ly of corn for 
seed, and to ascertain the owners of the under- 
ground granaries which the conscientious Pilgrims 
had rifled in the preceding winter, and for which 
they were anxious to make restitution.! He also 

'"■ Winslow in Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 201. Banvard, 
Wilson. t Chronicles of the Pilgrims, 

t Ibid. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 184. 



THE FIKST SUMMER. 117 

warned his allies to beware of the Narragansetts, a 
powerful and warlike tribe, inimical to him, seated 
on the borders and in the yicinity of Narragansett 
Bay.* Massasoit said that the Narragansett war- 
riors had not been thinned by the pestilence, and 
that they carried on an extensive trade with the 
Dutchmen in the west.t 

Having thus by skilful diplomacy reduced the 
future political intercourse between the nascent 
New England republic and the Indian sachem to 
some degree of certainty and mutual confidence, 
the ambassadors remained to partake of the hospi- 
tahty of the forest lords. 

They did not think very highly of Massasoit's 
housekeeping. The brave sagamore chanced to be 
out of provisions, so his guests were obliged to go 
supj)erless. When they expressed a wish to sleep, 
they were conducted into a wigwam, and, as a mark 
of special honor, allowed to sleep in the same bed 
with the sachem and his squaw — one end of a hard, 
rude-looking bed, covered with a coarse, thin mat, 
and raised three or four inches above the earthern 
floor, being assigned to them, while their Indian 
majesties reposed at the other extremity.:}: Like 
other royal favors, this proved somewhat irksome 
to the recipients, who had to complain of very 
straitened accommodation, and record that they 
" were worse weary of their lodgings than of their 
journey."§ 

* Chronicles of the Pilgrims. Mount, Journal, p. 45. 

t Ibid. J Wilson, p. 386. § Ibid. Pilgrims' Journal. 



118 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

The next day the colonial ambassadors had no 
breakfast, but the morning was taken np in receiv- 
ing visitors — rumors of their presence having col- 
lected several subordinate sachems to do them 
honor and cement a friendship — and in witnessing 
the Indian games, which had been gotten up for 
their entertainment.* 

About noon, Massasoit, who had gone hunting 
at dawn, returned, bringing with him two fishes ; 
these were soon boiled and divided among forty 
persons ;t this was the first meal taken by the en- 
voys for a day and two nights4 

Heartily sick of Indian entertainment, in the 
gray dawn of the following day they set out for 
Plymouth. The chief was sorry and ashamed that 
he had been able to receive them in no better style ; 
but while friendship was in his heart, abundance 
was not in his cabin.§ After a dismal and stormy 
jaunt, they reached the welcome settlement on the 
fifth day of their absence. Hard and uncouth as it 
was, after their recent experience, it seemed to them 
an elysium. So severe had been the hardships in- 
cident to their mission, so faint and giddy were 
they from hunger and want of sleep and over-exer- 
tion, that several days' repose was required to re- 
cruit them back to health and strength.il 

In the course of the excursion just happily 

* Banvard. Clironicles of the Pilgrims. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 184. Banvard, p. 55. Wilson, p. 386. 

J Chronicles of the Pilgrims. Mount, Journal, p. 47. 

§ Banvard, Plymouth and the Pilgrims, p. 55. 

11 Mount, Journal. Chronicles, etc. 



THE FIEST SUMMEE. 119 

ended, the Pilgrims had acquired considerable 
knowledge of their Indian neighbors — of their 
habits, their motives of action, their social forms. 
They saw that rivalry, and enmity begotten of ri- 
valry, stirred constant feuds among the tribes by 
whom they were surrounded. The sight of a strange 
Indian never failed to fill their dusky guides with 
alarm and watchfulness ; among the red men, in 
the most literal sense, "eternal vigilance " was "the 
price of liberty."* 

The first settlers of Plymouth generally dealt 
honorably and amicably with their Indian allies, 
more so than the later colonists of New England, 
as the treaty with Massasoit, unbroken for fifty 
years, amply proves. Trade was of course an ob- 
ject with them; but it was not selfishly paramount. 
This fair dealing begot in its turn corresponding 
friendship and good feeling among the red men ; it 
put kindliness into their hearts at a time when a 
revengeful temper might have led them to combine 
and sweep the feeble handful of usurping interlo- 
pers, weakened by disease and decimated by death, 
into the Atlantic on whose verge they stood. 

We can never be sufficiently thankful that God 
moved both colonists and savages to cement so long 
and fair a peace. Yet from the very outset the In- 
dian recognized the superiority of the white man ; 
he made a reluctant yet irrepressible obeisance to 
civilization. Dryden has well expressed this innate 
consciousness : 

* Wilson. 



120 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

" Old prophecies foretell our fall at hand, 
"When bearded men in floating castles land." 

The sagamore, as lie gazed on the Plymouth 
settlement, stood grief-stricken to think that his 
lease of ages of the forests approached its end. 
He seemed to see in the recent plague a grant of 
the land to another race, engrossed by the hand of 
the Great Spirit himself. That rifled burial-mound 
of the Wampanoags, in which the Pilgrims found 
their seed-corn, was typical ; it was the new tenant 
entering upon the estate, taking possession in the 
name of God, and for the common good. Yet 

" Who shall deem the spot unblessed 
Where Nature's younger children rest, 
Lulled on their sorrowing mother's breast ? 
Deem ye that mother loveth less 
These bronzed forms of the wilderness 
She foldeth in her long caress ? 
As sweet o'er them her wild-flowers blow, 
As if with fairer hair and brow 
The blue-eyed Saxon slept below. "* 

• Whittier, Ballads and other Poems. 



IN THE WOODS. 321 



CHAPTEE IX. 

IN THE WOODS. 

" Actions rare and sudden, do commonly 
Proceed from fierce necessity." 

Sir William Davenant. 

Two or tliree clays after the return of Winslow 
and Hopkins from Massasoit's forest rendezvous, 
the routine life of the colonists was broken by the 
sudden disappearance of one of the younger mem- 
bers of the Plj^mouth commonwealth. John Bil- 
lington was nowhere to be found. Though he was 
a vicious lad, the pest of the colony, his absence 
caused great anxiety. Whither had he gone ? Was 
he drowned? Had he been kidnapped? Had he 
wandered away and lost his course in the tangled 
cross-paths of the forest ? 

Though the season, already declining towards 
autumn, called for the active labor of the settlers, 
the supposed peril of the lost boy swallowed up all 
other considerations, and a squad of ten men was 
recruited to go in search of him.* The clumsy 
shallop was rigged, and, led by Staudish, all em- 
barked. They had not sailed far ere a sudden 
squall, accompanied by a severe thunderstorm, pe- 
culiar to the season and the latitude, struck them, 

* Pilgrims' Journal, Palfrey, Bradford. 

Pilgilm Patliei§. (j 



122 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

as it were, witli clenched fists. A water-spout, the 
first they had ever seen, flung up the hissing sea to 
a sheer height of fifty feet within a stone's toss of 
the shallop, already half capsized.* Drenched and 
weary, they landed in Cummaquid, now Barnstable 
harbor, where they bivouacked.t Here an Indian 
runner, despatched by Massasoit, met them, and 
said that the lad they sought might be found at 
Nauset, some miles farther down the coast. In 
the morning, as they were about to embark, they 
espied two Indians, strangers, whom they hailed. 
Squanto and another friendly sachem named To- 
kamahamon were with the scouting party, and they 
now acted as interpreters. These natives corrobo- 
rated Massasoit's report of the whereabouts of 
young Billington ; and at their invitation, six of 
the Englishmen accompanied them to an interview 
with their chief, lyanough, who lurked in the vicin- 
ity. When they met the sagamore, they found him 
to be a handsome man, in the May of youth, cour- 
teous in his manners, and unlike an Indian save 
in his costume.:}: The entertainment to which he 
invited his pale-face guests was in harmony with 
his decorous appearance, being varioiis and abun- 
dant.§ 

While they were feasting, they saw an old, with- 
ered squaw, who seemed bowed down beneath the 
weight of a hundred years, hobbling eagerly tow- 

* Banvard, p. 56. Prince ; Mount in Young, pp. 214r-218. 
■j- Mount in Young. Banvard. J Bradford, p. 103. 

§ Banvard, p. 56. Mount. 



IN THE WOODS. 123 

arcis the spot of green sward where they reclined. 
She had never seen an Englishman, and was natu- 
rally curious to gaze upon the pale-face strangers. 
On reaching their vicinage she became intensely 
excited, and commenced to howl and rave and 
weep, pausing between each sob to curse her chief- 
tain's guests. The Pilgrims were astonished. They 
asked why the old squaw cried and cursed, and 
were told that Hunt had kidnapped three of her 
sons, at the same time that he had carried Squanto 
into Spanish servitude. They told the old squaw, 
through an interpreter, that Hunt was a bad man, 
condemned by all good Englishmen; said that they 
would not do so wicked an act for all the skins in 
New England ; and to convince her of their sincer- 
ity, gave her some trinkets, which served to placate 
her exuberant wrath.* 

Taking a friendly leave of lyanough, the Pil- 
grims returned to the shallop, and at once set sail 
for Nauset, the Indian name of what is now the 
pleasant village of Eastham. On their arrival, the 
shallop was surrounded by a swarm of natives, who 
greatly annoyed them by their officious offers of 
assistance.f Standish was impelled to keep on the 
alert by the remembrance that this tribe was the 
one which had assailed the English coasting party 
in December, 1620.| Among these savages the 
Pilgrims found the long-sought owner of the corn 
which they had taken from the burial-mound ; he 

* Mount in Young. Banvard. f Ibid. 

t Bradford, p. 103. 



124 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

was invited to visit Plymouth, where he was prom- 
ised ample payment.* 

Towards evening, a sagamore named Aspiret 
came to them, bringing with him the lost lad. He 
had wandered over the hills and through the woods 
for five days, living upon the berries and wild fruit 
of the season. Finally he reached an Indian vil- 
lage at Menomet, where Sandwich is now located ; 
and here the Indians had sent him to the Nausets, 
among whom he was now found.t 

The boy was decked out in the tawdry Indian 
style when Aspinet delivered him to the settlers, 
and several pounds of beads hung suspended from 
his neck.:j; 

Standish rewarded the sachem for his care of 
the boy ; he also distributed some presents among 
his tribe. Here a rumor of war between the Nar- 
ragansetts and Massasoit reached them ; and Aspi- 
net also said that the great sagamore had been 
captured by his vengeful foemen.§ Apprehensive 
for the welfare of the colony, and conscious that 
they ought to render Massasoit assistance in case 
he had been unjustly attacked, the Englishmen 
bade Aspiret a hasty but cordial farewell, and in- 
stantly reembarked.il 

Plymouth was regained without further adven- 
ture. Their return was welcome, for these ten con- 
stituted half the martial force of the common- 
wealth ; and in their absence the remaining settlers 

<* Banvard, p. 58. f Mount in Young. Banvard- 

X Ibid. § Ibid. Prince, vol. 1, p. 107. || Ibid. 



IN THE WOODS. 125 

had learned of dangerous intrigues against their 
peace, stirred by a sachem called Corbitant, an ally 
of Massasoit's, but never a friend to the Pilgrims.* 

' ' The flying rumors gathered as they j.-olled ; 
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told ; 
And all who told it added something new, 
And all who heard it made enlargement too ; 
In every ear it spread, on every tongue it grew."f 

At first this startling intelligence was flung into 
the ears of the settlers : " The Narragansetts have 
invaded Massasoit's territory ; the sagamore is 
either a prisoner or has fled ; an attack upon Plym- 
outh may immediately be expected."^ 

Squanto, Tokamahamon, and a Avarrior named 
Habbamak, who had come to live among the colo- 
nists, " a proper, lusty man, of great account for his 
valor and parts among the Indians,"§ were at once 
despatched to reconnoitre. Hardly had they disap- 
peared in the skirting forests ere word was brought 
that Massasoit was safe, that the Narragansetts were 
not near, but that Corbitant was using every wile 
to detach the sagamore from the English alliance, 
while he threatened death to Squanto, Takamaha- 
mon, and Habbamak, the counsellors of the sachem 
who were so actively friendly to the Pilgrims.il 

Events hustled each other ; for scarcely had the 
settlers time to breathe freer after this recital, ere 
" Habbamak came running in all sweating," and 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 185. Bradford, p. 103. f I'^pe- 

% Palfrey, Banvard, Bradford, Pilgrims' Journal. 

§ Bradford, p. 103, |1 Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 185. 



126 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

informed the clustering colonists that he and his 
two friends had been surprised and overpowered at 
NarQasket by Corbitant ; that he had managed to 
escape, but that he feared Squanto and Tokamaha- 
mon were dead, as he saw Corbitant press a knife 
to their breasts, and say, " If Squanto were dead, 
these English would lose their tongue."* 

The Pilgrims never appear to greater advan- 
tage than in moments of trial ; they are always 
equal to the occasion ; 

' ' Like a ball that bounds 
According to the force with which 't was thrown ; 
So in affliction's yiolence, he that 's wise, 
The more he 's cast down, will the higher rise."f 

'T was so with the Pilgrims. Danger seemed pow- 
erless to abash them. They " walked softly before 
the Lord," but they " feared no evil." They were 
profoundly penetrated with John Marston's maxim : 
"Through danger safety comes; through trouble 
rest." 

So now in this strait, they wasted no time in 
technical deliberation. Justice to themselves, to 
Squanto, to Massasoit, demanded action, prompt, 
efficient. Impunity was a bounty on offence. They 
were too weak to dare let an insult go unpunished. 
Besides, it was remembered that "if Ihey should 
suffer their friends and messengers to be thus 
wronged, they would have none to cleave unto 
them, or bring them intelligence, or do them any 
good service afterwards, while next their foes would 

* Banvard, p. 62. f Nabb's Microcosmos. 



IN THE WOODS. 127 

fall upon themselves. Whereupon it was resolved 
to send Standish and fourteen men well armed, and 
to go and fall upon the Indian village at Namasket 
at night; and if they found that Squanto was killed, 
to cut off Corbitant's head, but not to hurt any not 
concerned in the murder. Habbamak was asked if 
ho would go and be their guide. He said he would, 
and bring them to the very spot, and point out Cor- 
bitant. So they set out on the evening of August 
14th, 1621."* 

The night was dark and tempestuous. Habba- 
mak himself was often puzzled to find the path, 
and at times groped blindly. Towards midnight 
the little army halted and made a supper in the 
dark. As they were now near Namasket, the final 
preparations for the assault were made. Knap- 
sacks were thrown aside, and each man received 
his specific directions. The plan was to surround 
the wigwam of Corbitant and seize him ere he could 
escajDe. None were to be injured unless an attempt 
to escape was made.f 

The march was now resumed. Cautiously and 
silently they trod in the footsteps of their dusky 
guide, casting furtive glances into the enveloping 
gloom, and pausing momentaril}^ to listen and to 
watch. At length the Indian village was reached. 
There it lay, calm and oblivious of danger, the eyes 
of its inmates sealed in sleep. Softly but swiftly 
the assailants stole like spectres half round the 

* Bradford, pp. 103, 104. 

f Mount in Young ; Banvard, Bradford. 



128 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

drowsy town, and instructed by Habbamak, the 
wigwam of the hostile sachem was surrounded. 
Then came another brief pause, and each man's 
heart seemed throbbing in his throat, so new and 
so exciting was the situation. The signal followed; 
the hut was entered ; its inmates, still half asleep, 
were deprived of speech by fright and drowsiness. 
Soon, however, they regained their senses, and great 
commotion ensued. Standish asked if Corbitant 
was there. Unable or unwilling to rej^ly, several 
of the aroused Indians essayed to pass the guard. 
Then the guns of the invaders increased the hub- 
bub, and flashed angrily in the pitchy darkness. 
The women, rushing to Habbamak, called him 
" Friend, friend !" The boys, noticing that no in- 
jury was attemj^ted against the squaws, shouted, 
" I am a girl, I am a girl !"* 

After a time silence was regained. Standish, 
speaking through the lips of Habbamak, explained 
the object of the assault, and again demanded to 
know the whereabouts of Corbitant. Reassured, 
the Indians said that the wily sachem, fearing some 
revengeful action, had decamped ; that Squanto and 
Tokamahamon had not yet been murdered, but were 
held as captives in a neighboring wigwam.t 

The friendly sachems were speedily released, 
and while their deliverers heartily rejoiced over 
their escape, they regretted that of Corbitant.:!: 
The whole party breakfasted with Squanto ; after 
which the Namasket Indians were assembled, and 
* Banvard, p. 64. f Mount in Young. f Ibid. 



IN THE WOODS. • 129 

Standisli informed them of his determination to 
hunt Corbitant, and to punish all who should plot 
evil against the colony, or who should presume to 
contend against the authority of Massasoit. He 
also regretted that any had been wounded in the 
night attack, and invited those who pleased to ac- 
company him back to Plymouth, where an English 
physician would heal their hurts. Three, two men 
and a squaAv, accepted this invitation, and tarrying 
until their wounds were dressed, medicined, and 
cured, they were then dismissed in peace.* 

This expedition, so successful and so" bloodless, 
had a prodigious effect. By some system of prim- 
itive telegraphing, the news of it, and of the awful 
fire-weapons of the pale-faces, spread throughout 
the forests. The red men did not want such "med- 
icine men" for their foes. Nine sachems, repre- 
senting jurisdictions which extended from Charles 
Biver to Buzzard's Bay, came to Plymouth and 
made their submission. t The Indians of an island 
which the settlers had never seen, sent to sue for 
their friendship ;:|: and Corbitant himself, though 
too shy to come near Plymouth in person, used the 
mediation of Massasoit to make his peace.§ 

The result was, broader amity and firmer peace. 
But the Pilgrims conquered as much by their mod- 
eration and self-command as by their energetic 

<* Bradford, Mount, etc. 

t Bradford, p. 104. Felt, Hist, of New England, vol. 1, pp. 
64, 65. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 183. J Bradford, ut antea. 

§ Ibid., Felt, Palfrey. 

6* 



130 TiHE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

heroism. The anxious care with which they treated 
the injured warriors of their midnight raid, and the ' 
candor of their speech, placated resentment and 
inspired respect. Still the basis of this feeling was 
a knowledge that the white men would not suffer 
insult ; and it has been finely said, that if we justly 
estimate it, there was more of sound policy and gal- 
lant daring in the midnight raid of this handful of 
strangers, than has marked many a deed of arms 
which historians have delighted to record, and to 
which nations still look back with exultant pride.* 

Just as autumn began to smile, the Pilgrims 
made another expedition. This had a twofold pur- 
pose : to explore the country, and to cement a peace 
with the northeastern tribes.t 

Entering the shallop at midnight, Standish and 
nine others, with three Indians to interpret, of 
whom Squanto was one, embarked with the ebb- 
tide, i They sailed along the coast to the bay on 
which Boston now stands, called in the contempo- 
raneous record, Massachusetts Bay.% "On the sec- 
ond morning after leaving Plymouth, they landed 
upon a beach under a cliff, and received the sub- 
mission of a chief on promising to be ' a safeguard 
from his enemies.' They surveyed the 'fifty isl- 
ands ' of Boston harbor ; and passing the night on 

* Wilson. t Bradford, p. 104. Palfrey, Banvard. 

X Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 186. 

§ The word Massachusetts signifies an arrow-shaped hill. It 
is supposed to have been given to the surrounding country from 
the Blue Hills of Milton, which were formerly called Massachu- 
setts Mount. See Banvard, p. 65. 



IN THE WOODS. 131 

board their boat, went on shore again the following 
day and walked a few miles into the country. They 
observed land which had been cultivated, two forts 
in decay, untenanted huts, and other tokens of re- 
cent dej)oj)ulation. They noted ' the fair entrance ' 
of the river Charles, and 'harbors for sliij)ping' 
than which ' better could not be.' They conciliated 
the few natives whom they met, and traded with 
them for some skins. They learned that the prin- 
cij^al personage in the neighborhood was the female 
chief, or * squaw sachem ' of the Massachusetts ; that 
this tribe had suffered from the hostile incursions 
of the Tarratines, and that its people owed a cer- 
tain allegiance to Massasoit. The third evening, 
by 'a light moon,' the party set sail for home, which 
they reached before the following noon. The ac- 
counts they brought of the seat of their explora- 
tions naturally led their friends to ' wish they had 
been seated there;' "* but " the Lord, who assigns 
to all men the bounds of their habitations," re- 
marks Bradford, "had appointed it for another 
use."t The party "found the Lord to be with 
them in all their ways, and to bless their outgoings 
and incomings, for which let his holy name have 
the praise for ever to all posterity.":]: 

Standish and his friends had returned on the 
22d of September. Their services were needed; 
the nodding crops were to be reaped, and all " be- 

» Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 186. For a fuller account of this expedi- 
tion, see Mount in Young, pp. 224-229. 

t Bradford, p. 105. % Ibid. 



132 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

gan now to gather in the small harvest they had."* 
The husbandry of the year proved a prosperous 
beginning. The rivers supplied manure in abun- 
dance, and the weather had been not unfavorable. t 
" All the summer there was no want." While 
" some were thus employed in affairs abroad, oth- 
ers were exercised" in domestic avocations, in 
" fishing for cod and bass and other fish, of which 
the}^ took great store, giving every family its por- 
tion.":!: 

When the fields were gleaned, the pease turned 
out "not worth the gathering, the sun having 
parched them in the blossom ;" the barley was 
" indifferent good ;" and there was " a good in- 
crease of Indian corn." " They had about a peck 
of meal a week to a person; or now, since harvest, 
Indian corn to that proportion."§ 

Seven substantial dwelling-houses had been 
built, " and four for the use of the plantation," 
while others were being constructed. Fowl were 
so abundant in the autumn, that " four men in one 
day killed as much as, with a little help besides, 
served the community almost a week." " There 
was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took 
many, besides venison." The fowlers had been sent 
out by the governor, " that so they might, after a 
special manner, rejoice together, since they had 
gathered the fruit of their labors;" this was the 
origin and the first celebration of the national fes- 

* Bradford, p. 105. f Palfrey. I Bradford. 

§ Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 186, 187. 



IN THE WOODS. 133 

tival of New England, tlie autumnal thanksgiving. 
On that occasion of hilarity they " exercised their 
arms," and for three days "entertained and feasted" 
Massasoit and some ninety of his people, who made 
a contribution of five deer to the festivity. Health 
was restored ; household fires were blazing bright- 
ly ; and in good heart and hope the lonely but 
thankful settlers disposed themselves to meet the 
rigor of another winter.* 

" Here was free range ; the hunter's instincts 
could bourgeon and grow ; the deer that browsed, 
the fish that swam, the fowl that flew, were free to 
all — might be captives to each man's bow and spear. 
Here were * herring, cod, and ling,' ' salt upon salt,' 
' beavers, otters, furs of price,' ' mines of gold and 
silver,' ' Avoods of all sorts,' ' eagles, gripes, whales, 
grampus, moose, deer,' ' bears, and wolves,' ' all in 
season, mind you, for you cannot gather cherries at 
Christmas in Kent.' Who then would live at home 
in degradation, only to eat, and drink, and sleep and 
to die ?"t 

^ Winslow in Mount, etc., cited in Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 187. 
t Smith's Description of New England, cited in Elliot, vol. 1, 
p. 77. 



134 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

CHAPTEE X. 

KEINFOllCEMENT. 

' ' A golden treasure is the tried friend ; 
But who may gold from counterfeits defend? 
Trust not too soon, nor yet too soon mistrust ; 
Who twines betwixt, and steers the golden mean. 
Nor rashly loveth, nor mistrusts in vain." 

Mirror for Magistrates. 

On the morning of the 9th of November, 1621, 
after morning prayer — for the Pilgrims commenced 
each fresh da}^ by the solemn invocation of God's 
blessing on its labors, and at evening sealed the 
record by devout thanksgiving — when the thrifty 
settlers had separated each to his respective task, 
an Indian runner came breathless into the settle- 
ment, and announced that a vessel might be seen 
off Cape Cod, apparently crowding sail for Plym- 
outh harbor.* 

As no friends were expected at that season, this 
intelligence caused great excitement. A rush for 
the neighboring heights was made. There, indeed, 
spotting the dim horizon, a strange ship might be 
discerned. Endless w^ere the speculations as to her 
character and objects. Was she manned by the in- 
imical Frenchman? Was she a buccaneer, bent on 
murderous pillage? Could she be a friend? The 
Pilgrims were cautious and provident men. In the 

* Eussell's Pilgrims' Memorial, p. 131. Young's Chronicles, 
p. 232. 



BEINFORCEMENT. 135 

wilderness tlie common law maxim was reversed — 
all were necessarily held to be guilty until proved 
innocent. So now preparation was made to repel 
intruders, should they come with hostile intent. 
The governor ordered a cannon to be fired to sum- 
mon the scattered pioneers home. All were armed ; 
then, in painful suspense, the colonists waited the 
approach of the stranger craft. Nearer she drew 
and yet nearer. Intently was her every motion 
viewed. Her architecture was studied ; her rigging 
was observed; and all eyes were directed towards 
the peak where should flap her flag : it was not 
there. But, suddenly, it was run wp, and, lo, it was 
the English jack ! 

The colonists were delirious with jo}-, for that 
flag meant friends at hand and news from "home;" 
so their welcoming shouts went echoing across the 
water to their incoming reinforcers. 

Soon the ship anchored ; then the boats passing 
to and fro bore the fnends to each other's arms ; 
and amid kindly greetings and warm welcomings 
the news was asked and told. 

It was the" Fortune" which had just arrived. She 
brought Cushman and thirty-flve others to reinforce 
the infant colony.* Among this company were sev- 
eral who had embarked iu the " Speedwell," balked 
of a passage then, but now safely arrived.t The 
meeting was not untinged with sadness. "Death 
had been busy; Carver was gone, and more than 

o Mount, in Young, pp. 224-229. Kussell's Pilgrim's Manual, 
p. 153. t Bradford, Elliot, Banvard. 



135 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

half of those to whom Cushraan had bidden God- 
speed in the " Mayflower" rested under the sod, the 
grass growing on their levelled graves."* 

But as was their wont, the Pilgrims looked on 
the bright side of the picture ; and all thanked God 
that some remained to welcome the new-comers. 

"When the home budget was opened it was found 
to contain several items of moment to the colony. 
The patent of the London company under which 
the emigrants had expected to possess their Ameri- 
can homes, was made to cover Virginia alone, and 
this was rendered nugatory by the debarkation in 
New England.t 

The London company was now under a cloud. 
The active prominence of its chiefs as popular lead- 
ers of the Parliamentary reformers against the royal 
prerogative, had provoked the pique of James ; and 
his hostility was increased by the cunning of the 
Spanish court, with which he was then on friendly 
terms, and which desired to repel English neigh- 
bors from the Spanish settlement in Florida. | 

James exhibited his resentment by favoring the 
interests of a rival company of which Gorges, and 
Sheffield, and Hamilton, were the leaders. To them 
a new incorporation was granted, and assuming 
the title of the "Plymouth Company," they were 
empowered " to order and govern New England in 
America."§ 

« EUiot, vol. 1, p. 79. t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 190. 

i Ibid. Peckham's Life of Nicholas FeiTar. London, 1852. 
§ Gorge's Brief Narrative, chap. 16. 



REINFOECEMENT. 137 

Upon the domain of the new corporation the 
Pilgrims had settled without leave ; they were there- 
fore liable to a summary ejectment.* The company 
of Merchant-adventurers, under whose auspices they 
had sailed, informed of their position by the return 
of the " Mayflower," immediately applied to the 
Plymouth company for a patent which should cover 
the soil now colonized.f It was granted " to John 
Pierce and his associates," and was in trust for the 
benefit of the colony.:]; 

Thomas Weston, the agent of the Merchant-ad- 
venturers, sent a copy of this charter to the Plym- 
outh colonists, accompanying it with a letter in 
which, after complaining of the long detention of 
ihe "Mayflower" in America, and of her return 
without a cargo, he said that " the future life of the 
business depended on the lading of the ' Fortune,' " 
which being done, he promised never to desert the 
Pilgrims, even if all the other merchants should do 
so ;§ adding, " I pnxj you write instantly for Mr. Rob- 
inson to come to }- ou ; and send us a fair engi'oss- 
ment of the contract betwixt yourselves and us, sub- 
scribed with the names of the principal planters."!! 

While the "Fortune" lay moored in Plymouth 
harbor, Bradford penned a weighty and dignified 

•=- Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 193. t Ibid. 

X " It was dated June 1, 1621, andis interesting, as being the first 
grant made by the gi-eat Plymouth company. 'Twas first printed 
in 1854, in 4th Mass. Hist. CoU., vol, 11. The original is now at 
Plymouth. 'Tis probably the oldest document in Massachusetts 
officially connected with her history," Bradford, Ed. note, pp. 
107, 108. 

§ Bradford, p. 107, Kussell, Morton, Young. |j Ibid. 



138 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

reply to Weston's animadversions. After reciting tlie 
incidents wliich had checkered the twelvemonth of 
their settlement, including the death of Carver, to 
whom the agent of the Merchant-adventurers had 
directed his missive, he said, with an unconscious 
touch of pathos, " If the company has suffered, on the 
side of the settlers there have been disappointments 
far more serious. The loss of many honest and in- 
dustrious men's lives cannot be valued at any price. 
It pleased God to visit us with death daily, and 
with so general a disease thatihe living were scarce 
able to bury the dead, and the well not in any 
measure sufficient to tend the sick. And now to 
be so greatly blamed for not freighting the ship, 
doth indeed go near us, and much discourage us."* 
Preeminently conscientious, and earnestly desir- 
ous to give the Merchant-adventurers no just cause 
of complaint, the Pilgrim colonists made every effort 
to secure a speedy and profitable cargo for the 
"Fortune's" homeward voyage. The ship was a 
small one of but fifty-five tons burden ;t but she 
was at once " laden with good clapboards, as full as 
she could stow, two hogsheads of beaver and other 
skins, with a few other trifling commodities," in all 
to the value of five hundred pounds. J Barely four- 
teen days elapsed between her arrival and her read- 
iness to depart.§ 

* Bradford, pp. 108, 109. 

t Elliot, Felt, Banvard, Mount iu Youug. 

X Bradford, p. 108. About twenty-five hundred dollars, 

§ Ibid. 



KEINrOECEMENT. 139 

Just before the "Fortune" sailed, the colonists 
were busy in prej^aring epistles for their friends in 
England and for the dear Leyden congregation. 
These were intrusted to Robert Cushman, who 
Avas to return to London and make a report of the 
situation of the Plymouth colony.* He himself, 
just on the eve of his return, delivered a memorial 
discourse in the block citadel on Fort-hill — which 
was at once church and castle — in which he recited 
vividly the cause of the emigration, the incidents 
attending it, the spirit of the actors, and the augu- 
ries of the future ; and this was printed at London 
in 1622.t 

In the dedicatory epistle to this sermon — whose 
object was to draw the attention of Puritans at 
home to the advantages of the Plymouth settlement 
as a residence where the virtues of religion might 
be more than ordinarily exemplified, as is proved by 
the fact that it was so sj^eedily published in Eng- 
land — Cushman says: "If there be any who are 
content to lay out their estates, spend their time, 
labor, and endeavors for the benefit of those who 
shall come after, and who desire to further the gos- 
pel among the poor heathen, quietly contenting 
themselves with such hardships as by God's provi- 
dence shall fall upon them, such men I should ad- 
vise and encourage to go to New England, for in 
that wilderness their ends cannot fail them. And 
whoso rightly considereth what manner of entrance, 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 197. Bradford. 
t Dr. Young has reprinted it in his Chronicles, p. 262, et seq. 



140 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

abiding, and proceeding we have had among the 
savages since we came, will easily think that God 
hath some great work in store for ns. By reason 
of one Squanto, who lives amongst ns, who can speak 
English, we can have daily commerce with the In- 
dian kings ; and acquaint them with our causes and 
purposes, both human and religious."* 

Three things, according to Winslow, are the 
bane and overthrow of plantations : The vain ex- 
pectation of instantaneous profit, without work ; 
ambition ; and the lawlessness of settlers.f These 
rocks long wrecked the prosperity of the American 
colonies outside of New England. Cushman bade 
emigrants beware of entertaining the too common 
error of supposing that the wilderness was an actual 
Eldorado, as the Spanish had taught, and as the 
Virginia colonists had imagined.:}: "No," he said, 
" neither is there any land or possession now like 
unto that which the Jews had in Canaan, being 
legally holy, and appropriated unto holy jDeople, the 
seed of Abraham, in which they dwelt securely, and 
had their days prolonged, it being by an immediate 
voice said, that the Lord gave it to them as a land 
of rest after their weary travels, and as a type of 
eternal rest in heaven. But now there is no laud 
of that sanctity, no land so appropriated, none typi- 

* Cusliman, cited in Felt, vol. 1, p. 67. 

f Wiuslow's Good News, London, 1624. 

J " Captain Smith describes the Virginia settlers as made up of 
forty-eight needy ' gentlemen ' to four car^ienters, who were come 
to do nothing else ' but dig gold, make gold, refine gold, and load 
gold.'" Elliot, vol. 1, p. 79, note. 



BEINFOECEMENT. 141 

cal, much less any that can be said to be given of 
God to any one people, as Canaan was, which they 
and theirs must dwell in till God sendeth upon 
them sword and captivity. Now we are all, in all 
]3laces, strangers and pilgrims, travellers and so- 
journers. Having no dwelling but in this earthly 
tabernacle, no residence but a wandering, no abi- 
ding but a fleeting,"* where work makes a home, 
and labor keeps it. 

In a private letter addressed by Edward Wins- 
low to a friend in London, and which helped to 
swell the budget which went out by the " Fortune," 
that stout old worthy says : " We have found the 
Indians very faithful to their covenant of peace with 
us, very loving and ready to pleasure us. We often 
go to them, and they come to us. Some of us have 
been fifty miles by land into the interior with them, 
the occasions and relation whereof you shall un- 
derstand by our general and more full declaration 
of such things as are worth noting. Yea, it hath 
pleased God so to possess the Indians with fear of 
us, and love unto us, that not only the greatest king 
amongst them, called Massasoit, but also all the 
princes and tribes round about us have sent their 
messengers to us to make suit for peace, so that 
there is now great peace amongst the Indians them- 
selves, which was not formerly, neither would have 
been but for us ; and we, for our part, walk as peace- 
ably and safely in the wood as in the highways in 
England. We entertain them pleasantly and famil- 
o Cited in Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 79, 80. 



142 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

iarly in our cabins, and they as friendly bestow 
their venison on its. They are a people withont any 
religion, yet trusty, quick of apprehension, ripe — • 
withal just."* 

By this same opportunity William Hilton, who 
had come out in the " Fortune," thus sums up an 
account to his " loving cousin" of the natural wealth 
and prospects of the country on whose soil he had 
recently set foot : " Better grain cannot be than the 
Indian corn, if we will plant it upon as good ground 
as a man may desire. We are all freeholders ; the 
rent-day doth not trouble us ; and of all the bles- 
sings we have, which and what we list we may take 
in season. Our company are, for the most part, 
very honest, religious people. The word of God is 
sincerely taught us every Sabbath ; so that I know 
not any thing a contented, earnest mind can here 
want. I desire your friendly care to send my wife 
and children to me when occasion serves, where I 
wish all the friends I have in England."! 

Winslow gives us some significant hints of the 
social life and wants of the colony by describing to 
his friends the stores most needful to send out for 
their use ; and we get no little insight into the 
hardships and very homely accommodations of the 
forefathei'S through the glass of his request that the 
next ship may " bring paper and linseed oil for the 
windows, with cotton yarn for the lamps."| 

* Winslow, in Young's Chronicles. 

t "Wilson, p. 389. Felt, vol. 1, p. 67. 

X Smith, New England's Trials. Prince, vol. 1, p. 115. 



BEINFOECEMENT. 143 

And now, on the 14tli of December, 1621, all 
being ready and leave-taking said, tlie little " For- 
tune," crammed with the "first fruits" of the Pil- 
grim enterprise, set sail for England. But alas, just 
as she had almost reached the English coast, she 
was clutched by a French privateer, robbed of her 
precious fi-eight, and sent into the Thames an empty 
hull, to the bitter chagrin of the company of Mer- 
chant-adventurers, and the sad disappointment of 
the Plymouth colonists, when, at a later day, they 
learned of the misfortune.* 

"• Bradford. Yoiing. 



144 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE MOEALE OF THE COLONY. 

"Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, 
Is tlie immediate jewel of their souls." 

Shaespeake, OUiello. 

On the return of the settlers from the shore 
where they had said good-by to the "Fortune," it 
was arranged that the new-comers should for the 
present, in the absence of other accommodations, 
be received into the families already provided with 
cabins.* Unhappily) the "Fortune" had brought 
out no store; indeed, she was obliged to rely on 
the colonists for provisions for her larder on the 
home voyage. The emigrants whom she landed 
were absolutely destitute, having " not so much as 
biscuit-cake or any other victuals set aside for pres- 
ent want. Neither had they any bedding, nor pot 
nor pan to dress meat in, nor over-many clothes."t 

Though the plantation rejoiced at this increase 
of strength, yet they would have been better pleased 
had many of the emigrants come better provided 
and in fitter condition to winter in the wilderness.:]: 

With the provident promptness which is so om- 
nipresent a trait in their character, the Pilgrims at 
once " took an exact account of all their provisions 

«5 Bradford, Mount in Young, Kussell. 

t Ibid. Prince, vol. 1. | Bradford, p. 106. 



MOKALE OF THE COLONY. 145 

in store, and proportioning these to the number of 
persons, found that, owing to the arrival of so many 
unexpected and necessitous guests, they would not 
hold out above six months, or till the spring, on 
half-allowance; and they could not well give less 
this winter-time, till fish came in again. But all 
were presently put on half-allowance, which began 
to be hard, but it was borne patiently."* 

Indeed, the Pilgrims bore this hardship with 
something better than mere patience. " I take no- 
tice of it as a great favor of God," wrote one of the 
sufferers, " that he has not only preserved my life, 
but given me contentedness in our straits; insomuch 
that I do not remember ever to have wished in my 
heart that I had never come into this country, or 
that I might be again in my father's house. "t It 
was said of Brewster, that " with the most submis- 
sive patience he bore the novel and trying hard- 
ships to which his old age was subjected, lived ab- 
stemiously, and after having been in his youth the 
companion of ministers of state, the representative 
of his sovereign, familiar with the magnificence of 
courts, and the possessor of a fortune sufficient not 
only for the comforts, but the elegances of life, this 
humble, devoted Puritan labored steadily with his 
own hands in the 'histie stibble-fields ' of the un- 
kempt wilderness for daily subsistence ; while on the 
Sabbath, as elder of the church, and in the absence 
of an ordained minister, he broke the bread of hfe 
for the Pilgrim flock. Now, destitute of meat, of 
o Bradford, p. 110. t White's Incideuts, etc. 

rilijrim Fathers. 7 



146 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

fish, and of bread, over Lis simple meal of clams 
he would return thanks to the Lord that he could 
suck of the abundance of the sea and of treasures 
hid in the sand."* 

An eminent historian bids us beware of the error 
of supposing that the community jjlanted at Plym- 
outh was of a strictly homogeneous character. 
"The devoted men wdio, at Leyden, had debated 
the question of emigration, did not constitute the 
whole company even of the ' Mayflower.' They had 
been joined in England by several strangers who, 
like themselves, had come under engagement to the 
Merchant-adventurers of London. That partner- 
ship had business objects, and was by no means 
solely swayed by religious sympathy with the Ley- 
den Pilgrims."'!' 

Of the twenty men of the "Mayflower's" com- 
pany who survived the first winter, several are un- 
favorably known, as Billington, the foul-mouthed 
contemner of Standish's authority, and Dotey and 
Lister, the lackey duelists of Hopkins' quiet house- 
hold.t 

So of the reinforcement by the "Fortune." 
Some were old and devout friends of the colonists, 
as Simonson and De la Noye, members of the Ley- 
den church; John Winslow, Edward's brother; 
Thomas Prince, afterwards governor; Cushman's 
son, and a son of Brewster.§ Others Avere turbu- 

* White's Incidents, etc. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 187-189. t Chap. 7, p. lOG. 

^ Winslow in Brief Narration, in Hypocrisie Unmasked, p. 393. 
.ilso. Palfrey, vol. 1. p. 189, note. 



MOEALE OF THE COLONY. 147 

lent and restless rovers, impatient of control, care- 
less in religion, and burning for adventure ; in Brad- 
ford's phrase, " lusty young men, and many of them 
wild enough, who little considered whither or about 
what they went."* Happily for the peace of the 
little commonwealth and for posterity, " the advan- 
tage of numbers and the authority of superior char- 
acter determined that events should proceed at 
Plymouth according to the jjolicy of Bradford, 
Brewster, and their godly friends. Still internal 
tendencies to disturbance are not to be left out of 
view in a consideration of the embarrassments with 
which the forefathers had to contend. "t 

Under Bradford's government, the laws were 
few and mild, but firm; and neither the lazy nor 
the godless received countenance, though tender 
consciences were never pinched. Take this inci- 
dent as an illustration: " On the day called Christ- 
mas day, the governor called the settlers out to 
work, as was usual ; but the most part of the new- 
comers excused themselves, and said it went against 
their consciences to work on Christmas. So the 
governor told them if they made it a matter of con- 
science, he would spare them till they were better 
informed. On this, he led away the rest, and left 
them ; but when the laborers came home from work 
at noon, they found the scrupulous new-comers in 
the street at play openly ; some pitching the bar, 
some at foot -ball, and others at kindred sports. 
Immediately the governor went to them, and took 

« Bradford, p. 106. f Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 189. 



148 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

away their implements, and told tliem that it was 
against his conscience that they should play while 
others worked. If they made the keeping of Christ- 
mas matter of devotion, let them keep their houses ; 
but there should be no gaming or revelling in the 
streets; since which time nothing hath been at- 
tempted that wa}^ at least openly."* 

In this and kindred ways, the commonwealth 
was controlled and moulded into higher courses. 
Practical consistency was gained, and the elements 
out of which homogeneity might grow were planted 
at every hearth-stone. ^ 

" In companions | 

That did converse and Si^end their time together, 
Whose sonls did bear an equal yoke of love_ 
There needs should be a like proportion 
Of Uneameuts, of manners, and of spirit." 

o Bradford, p. 112. 



THE PILGEIM GOVERNMENT. 149 



CHAPTEE XII. 

THE PILGEIM GOVERNMENT. 

"A free republic, where, beneath the sway 
Of mild and equal laws, framed by themselves, 
One people dwell, and own no lord save God." 

Mks. H.iLE's Ormond Grosvenor. 

Just here it is perhaps fit that the sahent fea- 
tures of the unique government under which the 
forefathers lived and prospered should be briefly 
sketched ; aud in order that this exposition may be 
clear, claiming the privilege of a chronicler, we shall 
command the clock of this narration to stand still, 
while we peer at times into the then future, in tra- 
cing some law to its result, or in depicting the change 
of front of an exploded policy. 

At the outset, the arrangements of the Pilgrims 
were extremely simple, and grew naturally from 
their needs, from their crude ideas of liberty, and 
their imperfect conception of a model state. Nom- 
inally, the sovereignty of Britain was recognized; 
in fact, all through these opening decades of Amer- 
ican history, the colonists were despised by the 
home government, and left free to plant the most 
radical principles of a " proper democracy." It was 
only when the greed of gain squeezed her heart, not 
repentance nor love, that England recognized the 
legitimacy of the neglected child whom she had 



150 THE PILGKIM FATHEES. 

pronounced a bastard, and left to freeze in the 
winter wilderness. AVlien God wrote success upon 
the frontlet of the colony, the Shylocks on the Rial- 
tos of the world were eager to invest in the enter- 
prise, while England, with motherly pride, patted 
New England upon the head and said, " I rocked 
your cradle; but, bless me, how you are grown, 
and how like me you are. You may pay me your 
earnings, and I '11 send you a governor." 

But through the bitter months of the incipient 
settlement Shylock could see nothing in New Eng- 
land but a barren coast, while Britain could not 
discern Plymouth Bock across the water ; nor if she 
had would any craving governor have itched to set 
up his chair of state in a cheerless Eldorado of ice 
and snow. 

So the Pilgrims were left to shift for themselves 
until, strengthened by incessant tussles with a rug- 
ged climate and the savage foe, they expanded into 
robust manhood. In these first months, the Plym- 
outh colonists regarded themselves as one family, 
at whose head stood the governor, in loco parentis* 
But as business increased, the whole burden of gov- 
ernment was felt to be too onerous for the single 
shoulders of the governor to bear; and when Brad- 
ford stejDped into the gubernatorial chair left vacant 
by the death of Carver, he was voted an assistant.^ 
In 1624, he was given five assistants. Afterwards, 
in 1633, the number was increased to seven; and 

« Allen's Biog. Diet.. Thatcher's Plymouth, p. 77. 
t Chap, 7, p. 108. 



THE PILGRIM GOVERNMENT. 151 

these, called "the Governor's Council,"* governed 
the commonwealth in conjunction with their primi- 
tive executive. The vote of each councillor counted 
one, and the vote of the chief magistrate was but 
double — the only check he had over the action of 
the Council.f 

The governor was chosen annually, by general 
suffrage,:]: as were also the councillors.§ The name 
of the man who was disjoosed to shirk his civil duty 
we do not know ; " but a curious law was passed in 
in 1632, that whoever should refuse the office of 
governor, being chosen thereto, should pay twenty 
pounds ; and that of magistrate, ten pounds. Very 
singular, certainly ; and we may suppose that that 
race has run out even in Massachusetts. "11 

The legislative body was at first composed of 
the whole company of voters.lT Then, when their 
numbers grew, church-membership was made the 
test of citizenship-'^ — a test which endured till 1665, 
when it was reluctantly yielded at the requisition 
of the king's commissioners.ff It was not until 
1669 that the increase of population warranted the 
establishment of a House of Eepresentatives.:]::!: 

"Narrow as the restriction of citizenship to 
church-members was, it is easy to explain it by 
remembering that toleration, in any large sense, 

o Morton's Memorial, Prince's Annals, Hall's Plymouth Eec- 
ords. t Ibid. % Ibid. Elliot, vol. 1, p. 109. 

§ Hall, Prince, Thatcher. || Elliott, vol. 1, p. 110. 

IT Graham, vol. 1. Massachusetts Historical Records. Haz- 
ard, vol. 1. ■"■-■ Ibid. 

ft Thatcher's Plymouth. |t Graham, vol. 1, p. 230. 



152 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

was hardly entertained by the most liberal religion- 
ists in that twilight age, and that the one idea which 
inspired this emigration and nerved these men for 
the bitterest sacrifices was, that they and their chil- 
dren might be free from an ecclesiastical tyranny 
which, if it followed, would endanger them. It 
should also be borne in mind that the history they 
studied, and the guide they felt bound to follow, 
Avas the Jewish theocracy, ordained by God, as they 
doubted not, to be a model in church and state for 
all time ; and that, under that dispensation, death 
was the punishment for smaller errors than dissent. 
These facts explain and palliate the religious pre- 
cision and severity afterwards practised in New 
England. But the free idea with which they start- 
ed gradually grew broader, overcame the evil cus- 
toms of the time, and strangled the prejudices of 
the Pilgrims themselves."* 

So early as the 17th of December, 1623, it was 
decreed that " all criminal facts, and all manner of 
trespass and debt betwixt man and man, should be 
tried by the verdict of twelve honest men."t Thus 
the jury trial, the distinctive badge of Saxon civili- 
zation, a right which a long line of able lawyers, 
from Coke and Hale to Mansfield and Erskine, have 
united in styling the palladium of civil liberty, was 
planted in America. 

Previous to the year 1632, the laws of Plymouth 
colony were little more than the customs of the 

* Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 112, 113. 

f Plymouth Eecords. Hazard, vol. 1. 



THE PILGRIM GOVERNMENT. 153 

people.* lu 1636 these were digested, and pref- 
aced witli a declaration of rights ; and, with vari- 
ous alterations and additions, the whole manuscript 
collection was printed in 1671. t Let us open the 
ponderous old folio, and cull from the mass a few 
specimen and characteristic samples. Early pro- 
vision was made for the education of youth. Many 
of the Pilgrims were men of liberal culture, as Wins- 
low and Brewster,:j: and all recognized its value and 
necessity ; so, in order that knowledge and civil 
liberty might clasp hands, it was enacted, "that 
twelve pounds should be raised for the salary of a 
teacher, and that children should be forced to at- 
tend school. "§ 

Decreed : " For ordering of persons and distrib- 
uting the lands, That freemen shall be twentj^-one 
years of age ; sober and peaceable ; orthodox in 
the fundamentals of religion. That drunkards shall 
be subject to fines, to the stocks, and be posted ; 
and sellers be forbidden to sell them liquors. 

" Horse-racing is forbidden ; so also walking 
about late o' nights. 

" The minister's salary shall be paid by rate lev- 
ied on all the citizens. Sabbath work and travel- 
ling is forbidden ; also all visiting on that day. 

"Profane swearing punishable by 'placing in 
the stocks; lying, by the stocks or by fine.' 

" Fowling, fishing, and hunting, shall be free. 
"Every wolf's head shall be worth, to an In- 

Plymouth Records. Hazard, vol. 1. Elliot. f Elliot. 

1 Thatcher's Plymouth, Morton's Memorials, etc. 
§ Book of Laws of New Plymouth, 1G71. 



154 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

clian, twelve shillings or ' a coat of duffels ;' to a 
white man, twenty shillings. 

" Haunters of ale-houses shall be disciplined by 
the church. 

" A motion of marriage to any man's daughter, 
if made without obtaining leave, shall be j>unished 
by fine or corporal punishment, at the discretion of 
the court, so it extend not to the endangering of 
life or limb. 

" Women shall not wear short sleeves ; nor shall 
their sleeves be more than twenty-two inches wide :"* 
an enactment the object of which was, to prevent 
indecent extremes and extravagance in dress. 

So rims this " quaint old volume of forgotten 
lore." If some of these laws seem severe, as we scan 
them through the vista of two centuries, and in an 
age when sumptuary laws are perhaps too little 
known, it may be said in their defence, that they 
were quite upon a level with the kindred legislation 
of Euroi^e, even in their most obnoxious features, 
while their progi'essive and liberal tone is as new 
and unique as the colony which gave them birth, 
and whose ideas they mirror. 

In May, 1621, the first marriage in New Eng- 
land was celebrated.t Edward Winslow espoused 
the widow of Wilham White, and the mother of 
Peregrine White, whose infant lullaby was the first 
ever siing by Saxon voice in New England4 " Ac- 

« Laws of New Plymonth, cited in Elliot, vol. 1, p. 111. 

t Prince, Annals, vol. 1, pp. 76, 98, 103, 105. Bradford, p. 101. 

X Ibid. 



THE PILGRIM GOVERNMENT. 155 

cording to tlie laudable custom of the Low Coun- 
tries," sajs Bradford, " the ceremony was thought 
most requisite to be performed by the magistrate, 
as being a civil contract upon which many ques- 
tions of inheritance do depend, with other things 
most proper for their cognizance, and most conso- 
nant to the Scriptures,* it being nowhere found in 
the gospel to be layed on ministers as a necessary 
part of their office. This practice continued, not 
only among them, but it was followed by all the 
famous churches of Christ in those parts to the 
year 1646."t 

« Ruth, chap. 4. t Bradford, p. 101. 



156 THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

THE COLONIAL KOUTINE. 

"Still to ourselves in every place consigned, 
Our own felicity we make or find ; 
With silent course, which no loud storms annoy, 
Glides the smooth current of domestic joy." 

Goldsmith's Traveller. 

Now, as tlieir second wilderness winter began 
to benumb the fingers and chill the blood of the 
Pilgrim colonists, they were necessarily shut out 
from many of the employments of the spring, the 
summer, and the autumn. They were busied chiefly 
in fishing, hunting, the collection of fuel, hewing 
timber, and exploring expeditions, varying this rou- 
tine by occasional traffic with Indian trappers.* 

Devoutly thankful were the forefathers for God's 
mercy and protection in the past, and with tranquil 
faith they set their faces towards the future. So 
full was their devotion, that it constantly cropped 
out, even setting its impress upon the seal of the 
commonwealth, which represented four men in the 
midst of a wilderness, each resting on one knee, 
and raising his clasped hands towards heaven in 
the attitude of prayer, t 

« Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 196. 

f This seal was dated 1620, and circumscribed with the words, 
" Sigillum Societatis Plymouth, Nov. Anglia. " 



THE COLONIAL EOUTINE. 157 

With the Pilgrims, faith was the spur of labor ; 
and this active enterprise eased and conquered all 
obstacles. Still, causes for solicitude and trials 
infinite constantly arose. The lean condition of 
their larder was a care urgent for the passing time 
and weighty in the future ; and to this anew source 
of anxiety was added. In the depth of winter, a 
report was bruited that active hostilities might mo- 
mentarily be looked for, fomented by the restless 
enmity of the Narragansetts," 

That the Narragansetts were inimical they soon 
learned. One day one of the warriors of that tribe 
entered Plymouth, and announced himself to be a 
messenger from his renowned sagamore Canonicus. 
He asked for Squanto, but seemed pleased when 
told that he was absent. He said he had a pack- 
age for Squanto. This consisted of a bundle of 
new arrows, wrapped in a rattlesnake's skin. It 
was enigmatical to the English ; but, suspicious 
that it could not be the Indian olive-branch, and 
might mean mischief, Standish detained the mes- 
senger as he was about to quit the settlement, and 
determined to hold him until Squanto's return 
should solve the riddle.t 

At first the savage was frightened ; but after a 
little, seeing that his captors meant him no harm, 
he became quite friendly, and began to chat. The 
Pilgrims learned from him, that an envoy whom 
they had despatched to negotiate a peace with the 
Narragansetts, in the preceding summer, had played 

« Winslow's Good News from New England. f Ibid. 



158 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

Judas, and betrayed his trust. Witliholding from 
Canouicus the presents which the colonists had 
sent liim as tokens of amit}^ he had used his influ- 
ence to kindle a war. The imprisoned runner said 
Canonicus would not have uttered sinister threats, 
had he thought the English friendly to him. When 
he returned, and informed the Narragansetts of the 
real sentiments of the pale faces, firm peace would 
come.* 

Somewhat affected by these representations, 
Bradford concluded to release the Indian ; previ- 
ous to which, however, he bade the envoy inform 
Canonicus that the pale faces had heard of his 
threats, and were offended ; that they desired to 
live in amity with their red brothers; yet if any 
warlike demonstrations were made, they would be 
prepared to meet them.f 

Then the governor urged the savage to take 
some food ; but he was too anxious to quit the 
dangerous vicinage to remain a moment after his 
liberation ; so, after expressing his gratitude, he 
immediatel}^ set out, in the midst of a driving storm, 
to find his way through the white, shivering De- 
cember woods to his wigwam and his people.:]: 

When Squanto came in, the settlers at once 
crowded about him, and showing him the sphynx- 
like Indian package, asked him to spell the riddle. 
With a laugh and a shrug, he explained that it ex- 
pressed enmity, and was the red man's declaration 

* Winslow's Good News from New England. Banvard, p. 70. 
t Winslow in Young. I Ibid. Banvard. 



THE COLONIAL EOUTINE. 159 

of war. The settlers were startled ; all adjourned 
to the fort ; and here, after deliberation, it was re- 
solved to meet menace by menace. They thought, 
rightly, that a determined attitude would in their 
case be safest ; and though Bradford had no anxi- 
ety to x^it his fift^'-odd men against the five thou- 
sand warriors whom Canonicus could muster, he 
was bold and defiant in appearance.* 

The governor filled the rattlesnake-skin with 
powder and bullets, and despatched it to the Nar- 
ragansetts by a special messenger, with this word : 
" If we were supplied with ships, we would save the 
Narragansett sagamore the trouble of coming so 
far to meet us by sailing to him in his own domin- 
ions. As it is, if he will come to the colony, he will 
find us ready to receive him."t 

"When Canonicus heard this message, he was 
profoundly impressed with the courage of his pale- 
face neighbors ; and when the skin was tendered 
him, he refused to receive it ; but the Pilgrim en- 
voy would not take it back ; so it was passed from 
hand to hand among the Narragansetts, till finally, 
pushed from the forest by superstitious fear, it 
reached the Plymouth settlement unopened. % 

Though this prompt action cowed the Narra- 
gansetts for a time, the rumor of intended hostili- 
ties continued to vex the colonists through the win- 
ter. " This made them the more careful to look to 
themselves; so they agreed to enclose their dwell- 

* Winslow in Young, Banvard, Briidforcl. 

t Winslow in Young, Panvard. | Djid., Bradford. 



160 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

ings with a strong pale, with flankers in convenient 
spots, and gates to shut, which were every night 
locked, and a watch kept ; when need required, 
there was also warding through the da3^ The 
company, by the advice of Standish and the gov- 
ernor, was divided into four squadrons ; and every 
man had his position assigned him, to which he 
was to repair in case of sudden alarm. If there 
should be a cry of fire, a squad was appointed for 
a guard, with muskets, whilst others quenched the 
flames. All this was accomplished very cheerfully ; 
and to prevent Indian treachery, the whole town was 
impaled round by the beginning of March, while 
every family had a pretty garden-spot secured."* 

The Pilgrims were regularly drilled by Standish, 
who had learned the science of war in Flanders. 
On these occasions, part of the exercises consisted 
in a general rush, each man to his station, and a 
simultaneous discharge of musketry. After this, 
the men escorted their officers to their cabins, fired 
a salute in their honor, and then dispersed. This 
may be considered " the first general muster in 
New England." It was the germ of the present 
militia s^'stem of thirty-six states.f 

This diligent training ere long moulded the Pil- 
grims into a finely disciplined company ; and they 
were quite proud of their proficiency in arms. Thus 

"Spake, iu tlie pride of his heart, Miles Standish, the captain of 
Plymoiith : 
'Look at these arms,' he said, 'the warlike weapons that hang 
here, 

* Bradford, pp. Ill, 112. f Banrard, p. 72. 



THE COLONIAL ROUTINE. IGI 

Burnished, and bright, and clean, as if for parade or inspec- 
tion. 

This is the s\vord of Damascus I fought with in Flanders. This 
breastplate — 

Well I remember the day — once saved my life in a skirmish. 

There in front you can see the very dint of the bullet 

Fired ^joint-blank at my heart by a Spanish Arcabucero. 

Had it not been of shear-steel, the forgotten bones of Miles Stan- 
dish 

Would at this moment be mould in their gi-ave in the Flemish 
morasses. 

Look! you can see from this window my brazen howitzer, 
planted 

High on the roof of the church — a preacher who speaks to the 
purpose, 

Steady, straight forward, and strong, with irresistible logic ; 

Orthodox, flashing conviction right into the hearts of the hea- 
then. 

Now we are readj', I think, for an assault of the Indians. 

Let them come, if they like, and the sooner they try it the better. 

Let them come, if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or pow- 
wow, 

Aspinet Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Tokamaharaon. ' "* 

"When, in the preceding summer, the Pilgrims 
had visited Massachusetts bay, they had promised 
the tribes in that vicinity to come again in the next 
spring and renew a trade with them. Now, in the 
latter part of March, Standish and his friends com- 
menced preparations for this voyage. Kumors, con- 
stantly renewed, still foreboded an outbreak against 
the peace and safety of the little commonwealth ; 
and though the winter had been spent without the 
3'ell of the war-whoop, Bradford's fast friend, Hab- 
bamak, strongly advised against the expedition of 
Standish, since he feared that the northeastern 

* Longfellow's Miles Standish's Courtship, pp. 9-12. 



162 THE PILGKIM FATHEES. 

tribes were in close league witli the Narragansetts, 
and anxious to precipitate a war,* 

Finally the colonists concluded to undertake 
the expedition, but to do so with extreme caution. t 
Accordingly, Standish embarked. He had not 
sailed far, ere he was becalmed. Suddenly he 
heard a cannon-shot, the signal of danger. In- 
stantly putting about, he bade his men row with 
their utmost strength and skill. Soon Plymouth 
was reached, and Standish learned that, just as he 
had sailed, an Indian, one of Squanto's family, had 
brought word that the Narragansetts, with Corbitant 
and Massasoit, were marching on the settlement.:}: 
Habbamak was confident that, even if this tale were 
true, Massasoit was not on the war-path ; so confi- 
dent, that he sent his squaw, under pretence of 
some message, to spy out the facts in the great 
sagamore's village.§ 

Meantime watch was kept through the night, 
and the whole settlement rested on its arms.H 

Nothing came of it all ; not an Indian appeared ; 
and when Habbamak's wife returned, she said that 
she found Massasoit at home and quiet,l "After 
this," says Bradford, " the traders proceeded on 
their voyage, and had a good trafl&c ; returning in 
safety, blessed by God."** 

From various circumstances, the settlers began 

*i Winslow in Yoiiug. Bradford. f Ibid, 

t Bradford, p. 113. § Ibid. Winslow, 

II Ibid. Young's Chronicles. Thatcher's Plymouth. 
T Ibid. ** Prince, 



THE COLONIAL EOUTINE. 163 

to suspect that Squanto " sought his own ends and 
played his own game" in his relations with them. 
He was the most travelled and learned of the In- 
dians, and with the spirit of braggadocio and the 
love of great stories common to his race, and also 
to his white prototypes, he was fond of working on 
the fears of his more ignorant and credulous broth- 
ers of the wood, by boasting of his influence with 
the pale faces, by reciting wild and terror-striking 
stories of the magical power of the English, and by 
offering to insure the peace and security of all who 
bought his services.* 

In this way Squanto drove quite a trade, the 
patent for his truth being his knowledge and sin- 
gular European adventures. 

" These English," he would say to a wondering 
and superstitious group of Indians, " are a wise 
and powerful people. Diseases are at their com- 
mand. They have now buried under their store- 
house the plague. They can send it forth to any 
place or upon any people they please, and sweep 
them all away, though they went not a step from 
home."t " Ugh ! ugh !" would be the responses of 
the gaping behevers. Many was the skin, many 
the piece of wampum, given Squanto to purchase 
his powerful intercession on their behalf, to lay the 
plague of the pale-face magicians. 

Once Squanto, being sent for by the governor, 
entered the house accompanied by Habbamak and 
several other Indians. A hole had been dug in the 

* Bradford, p. 113. t Banvard, pp. 76, 77. 



164 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

floor for the purpose of concealing certain articles, 
and the ground was left in a broken state. Hab- 
bamak, glancing at it, asked Squanto, 

" What does that mean ?" 

" That," retorted the wily sachem, " is the jDlace 
where the plague is buried that I told you about." 

Habbamak, to satisfy himself of the truth or 
falsity of this statement, asked one of the settlers, 
shortly after, if this was so. 

"No," said the stern, truthful Puritan; "we 
have not the plague at our command ; but the God 
whom we worship has, and he can send it forth to 
the destruction both of his enemies and ours."* 

Having learned these things, the Pilgrims sj)ared 
no pains to contradict Squanto's misstatements ; and 
so angered were the neighboring tribes, all of whom 
he had repeatedly swindled and misled, that Mas- 
sasoit and Habbamak both strenuously insisted 
upon 2^utting him to death ; for the American In- 
dian forgave any thing sooner than an attempt to 
cheat him; in w'hich he was unlike civilized com- 
munities, which often admire in proportion as they 
are cozened, and frown on and resent nothing but 
a clumsy cheat. 

But Squanto, with all his faults, was too useful 
to the Pilgrims to be surrendered to the cruel ven- 
geance of his foes; so he was saved from death, 
though not without difficulty, and at the risk of 
estranging Massasoit.f 

This made the rescued sachem "walk more 
* Banvard, pp. 76, 77. f Winslow in Young. Banvard. 



THE COLONIAL ROUTINE. 165 

squarelj, and cleave unto the English till he died." 
There was great jealousy between Squanto and 
Habbamak. Both were competitors for the good- 
will of tlie Pilgrims; and of this emulation good 
use was made. The governor seemed to counte- 
nance the one, and the captain the other, by which 
ruse the colonists got better intelligence, and kept 
the two scouts more diligent.* 

Towards the latter part of May, 1622, the scanty 
23rovisions of the Pilgrims quite gave out. Actual 
hunger began to pinch. The wild fowl, so plenty 
in the preceding season, were now grown shy of 
Ph^mouth, and could not be found. Their hooks 
and seines for fishing were worn out. It was yet 
hardly time to plant, as the frost still clutched the 
soil in its icy hand ; and even if it were, weary 
weeks must elapse ere a crop could be reaped. 
The future looked black, yet even in this strait 
they tmsted in God, " knowing that he would not 
desert his own."t 

While the Pilgrims were thus perplexed to know 
where their next mouthful was to come from, "they 
espied one day a shallop off their harbor. It proved 
to be a boat from a ship sent by Thomas Weston 
to fish off the coast of Maine. It contained six or 
seven passengers and a parcel of home letters.:]: 

These emigrants, like those who came in the 
" Fortune," were destitute of provisions, and the 
colonists were requested by Weston to provide for 
their necessities. Despite their own wants, " they 

* Bradford, p. lU. f Ibid., p. 124. J Ibid., 114. 



166 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

took compassion on the needy new-comers, and in 
this famine gave them as good as any of their 
own."* 

The Pilgrims got cold comfort from their letter- 
bag. " Some of the adventurers," wrote "Weston, 
" have sent you herewith some directions for your 
furtherance in the common good. It seems to me 
that they are like those St. James speaks of, that 
bade their brother eat and warm himself, but gave 
him nothing ; so they bid you make salt and viphold 
the plantation, but send you no means wherewithal 
to do it. Soon I purpose to send more people on 
my own account."t 

It seemed from other letters, that the comj)any 
of Merchant-adventurers was exhausting its energy 
in internal bickerings. Nothing was said about 
forwarding the remainder of the congregation at 
Leyden ; nothing was promised for the future ; a 
simple command was sent, that the colonists should 
assent to the breakage of the joint-stock contract, 
and despatch to them a paper to that effect, ratified 
and certified. I 

"All this," says Bradford, "was cold comfort 
to fill their empty bellies ; and on the part of Mr. 
Weston, but a slender performance of his late prom- 
ise never to forsake the colony ;§ and as little did it 
fill and warm cold and hungry men, as those the 

* Bradford, p. 114. f Cited in Bradford, pp. 115, 116. 

f Bradford, p. 116. By the third article of the agreement, this 
was permitted to be done by general consent. See Bradford, p. 46. 
§ Chap. 10, p. 137. 



THE COLONIAL EOUTINE. 167 

apostle James spoke of, by Weston before men- 
tioned. Well might it remind the settlers of what 
the psalmist saith, ' It is better to trust in the Lord 
than to have confidence in man.'* And again, 
' Put not your trust in princes ' — much less in mer- 
chants — 'nor in the son of man; for there is no 
help in them.'f ' Blessed is he that hath the God 
of Jacob for his helj), whose hope is in the Lord 
his God. 'I 

" These things seemed strange to the settlers. 
Seeing this inconsistency and shuffling, it made 
them think there was some mystery at bottom. 
Therefore the governor, fearing lest, in their straits, 
this news should tend to disband and scatter the 
colony, concealed these letters from the public, and 
only imparting them to some trusty friends for ad- 
vice, concluded for the present to keep all quiet, 
and await the development of events."§ 

* Psalm 118 : 8. f Ibid. 146 : 3. t Ibid, verse 5. 
§ Bradford, pp. 116, 117. 



163 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

CHAPTEK XIV. 

THE RIVAL COLONIES 

"Look here, ujDon this picture, and on this." 

Shakspeake, Hamlet. 

It was towards the close of May, 1622, that the 
seven pioneers from Weston's fishing smack had 
landed at Plymouth. About a month later, in the 
end of June or beginning of July, a new colony ar- 
rived. Two vessels, the " Charity" and the "Swan," 
roanded Cape Cod and anchored off the Pilgrim 
settlement.* They brought out a fresh batch of 
home letters, which Bradford and his coadjutors 
eagerly opened, hoping to discover the hidden 
meaning of these strange movements. 

Weston's missive was first searched. It was to 
this effect : "The 'Fortune' is arrived, whose good 
news touching your estate and proceedings I am 
very glad to hear. And howsoever she was robbed 
on the way by the Frenchmen, I hope your loss will 
not be great, for the conceit of a vast return doth 
animate the merchants. As for myself, I have sold 
my adventure and debts unto them, so I am quit of 
you and you of me. Now, though I have nothing 
to pretend as an adventurer among you, yet I will 
advise you a little for your good, if you can appre- 
hend it. I perceive and know as well as any one 
* Smith's General History, folio ed., p. 236. Winslow in 
Young, p. 296. 



THE EIVAL COLONIES. 169 

the disposition of the Merchant-adventurers, whom 
the liope of gain hath drawn on to this they have 
done ; yet that liope will not draw them much far- 
ther. Besides, most of them are against the send- 
ing of the Leyden congregation, for whose cause 
this business was first begun; and some of the most 
religious of the company except against them for 
their creed."* 

This presaged disaster, and Weston's desertion 
after his volunteer promises, made the Pilgrims 
profoundly sad. Next a letter from two of the 
Merchant-adventurers was read. This warned the 
colonists to beware of Weston, as one who sought 
his own single end, and " whom the company had 
bought out and were glad to be quit of."t 

Then a letter from their old friend Ciishman was 
opened. "Weston," he said, "hath quite broken 
off from our company, and hath now sent two small 
ships on his own venture for a new plantation. The 
people which they carry are no men for us, wherefore 
I pray you, entertain them not. If they offer to buy 
any thing of you, let it be such as you can spare, 
and make them give the worth of it. 'Tis hke they 
will plant to the south of the cape. I fear these peo- 
ple Avill deal harshly with the savages. I pray you 
signify to Squanto that they are a distinct body 
from us, and that we have nothing to do with them, 
neither must be blamed for their faults, nor can 
warrant their fidelity.":]: 

* Cited in cxteiiso iu Bradford, pp. 118. 119. 

t Ibid., pp. 119, 120. 1 Ibid.. 122. 123. 



170 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

Weston had overhauled these letters, and so 
become familiar with their contents. After criti- 
cising them severely, he added : " Now if yon be of 
the mind of these writers, deal plainly with us, and 
we will seek our residence elsewhere. If you are 
friendly, as we have thought you to be, give us the 
entertainment of friends. I shall leave in the coun- 
try a little ship — if God send her safe thither — with 
mariners and fishermen, who shall coast and trade 
with the savages and the old plantation. It may be 
that we shall be as helj)ful to you as you to us. I 
think I shall see you in person next spring."" 

The Pilgrims were in a quandary. They stood 
on the verge of starvation. The recent comers had 
brought out no stock of provisions, but were dumped 
destitute upon the charity of those whom they had 
come to supplant. "As for the harsh censures and 
suspicions intimated in these letters," remarks Brad- 
ford, " they desired to judge as charitably and wisely 
of them as they could, weighing them in the balance 
of love and reason ; and though the epistles of warn- 
ing came from godly and loving friends, yet they 
conceived that many things might arise from over- 
deep jealousy and fear, together with unmeet provo- 
cation ; though they well saw that Weston pursued 
his own ends, and was embittered in spirit. All 
these things they pondered and well considered, yet 
concluded to give his men friendly entertainment ; 
partly in regard to that gentleman's past kindness, 
and partly in compassion to the people who were now 

* Cited in cxienso in Bradford, nt antea. 



THE EIVAL COLONIES. 171 

come into the wilderness — as themselves were — and 
were by their ships to be presently put ashore ; for 
they were to carry other passengers into Virginia ;* 
and they were altogether unacquainted, and knew 
not what to do. So, as they had received Weston's 
former company of seven men, and victualed them 
as their own, now they also received these, being 
about sixty lusty men, and gave housing for them- 
selves and their goods ; and many, being sick, had 
the best the plac£ could afford them."t 

Of course, so great and unexpected an accession 
of numbers added vastly to the embarrassment of 
the Pilgrims, and " amidst these straits, and the 
desertion of those from whom they had expected a 
supply, when famine began to pinch them sore they 
knew not what course to take." But God stood 
behind the cloud, " keeping watch above his own." 
One day a boat came into Plymouth, and brought 
word of a massacre in Virginia,:|: and gave a warn- 
ing to the New England colonists. The kind sender 
of this message was captain of a fishing-smack then 
fishing off the Maine coast.§ 

When this boat returned, " the governor sent 
back a thankful answer, as was meet, and also de- 
spatched the shallop of the colony in its company, 
in which was Edward Winslow, whose object was to 

« The vessels were gone most of the summer. 

t Bradford, pp. 123, 124. 

X This massacre occurred on the 22d of March, 1622. Smith 
says that three hundred and fifty settlers were slain. General 
Hist., pp. 144-149. 

§ Bradford. 



172 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

secure what provisions he could from the fishermen. 
He was kindly received by the mentor captain, who 
.not only spared what he could of his own stock, 
but wrote others to do the same. By these means 
Winslow got some good quantity, and returned in 
safety; whereby the plantation had a double bene- 
fit ; first, a refreshing by the food brought ; and 
secondly, they knew the way to those parts for their 
benefit hereafter. Still, what was got and this small 
boat brought, being divided among so many, came 
but to little, yet, by God's blessing, it upheld them 
till harvest."* The daily allowance was a quarter 
of a pound of bread to each person ; and this the 
governor doled out, for had it not been in his cus- 
tody, it would have been eaten up and all had 
starved ; but thus, with what eels they could catch, 
they " made pretty shift till corn was ripe."t 

The Pilgrims soon perceived the truth of Cusli- 
man's estimate of the character of Weston's colo- 
nists, and found, indeed, that " they were not the 
men for them." In the lump they Avere a rude, pro- 
fane, improvident, thievish set, and peculiarly unfit 
to be the founders of a state.:]: They ate of the 
bounty of their entertainers, wasted their corn, 
brought riot and profanity into the quiet, devout 
homes of the Pilgrims, and repaid kindness by 
backbiting and reviling.§ Their coming was purely 
a business affair. It was a speculation. It was en- 

* Bradford, p. 125. f Ibid. Winslow in Young. 

J Thatcher's Plymouth, Prince's Annals, Banvard. 
§ Banvard, p. 82. 



THE EIVAL COLONIES. 173 

tirelj destitute of every religious element, though 
it abounded with irreligious ones. Fearing neither 
God nor man, they hated the Puritans, and ought 
never to be confounded with the Forefathers.* They 
were, in fact, 

" A lazy, lolling sort, 
Unseen at church, at senate, or at court. 
Of ever-listless loiterers, that attend 
No cause, no trust, no duty, and no friend. "f 

These godless drones remained at Plymouth 
most of the summer, until their ships came back 
from Virginia,! Then, under Weston's direction, 
or that of some one whom he had set in authority 
over them, these pests removed into Massachusetts 
Bay, and selecting a spot called by the Indians 
Wessagusset, now Weymouth, they essayed to plant 
a settlement.§ " Yet they left all their sickly folks 
with us, to be nursed and cared for," saj^s Brad- 
ford, " till they were settled and housed. But of 
their stores they gave us nothing, though we did 
greatly want, nor any thing else in recompense of 
our courtesy; neither did we desire it, for 'twas 
seen that they were an unruly company, having no 
good government, — sure soon to fall into want by 
disorder. "II 

Such a colony " was not, nor could it come to 
good." Mismanagement and lazy improvidence in- 
vited penury. Ere long they ran foul of the Indi- 
ans ; already the bane of the Pilgrims, they speedily 
became a pest among the savages, whom they robbed 

<* Banvard, p. 82. f Pope. | Bradford. 

§ Weston in Young, Thatcher, Prince. || Bradford. 



174 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

and swindled without conscience. In this way they 
exasj)erated the Indians, and by their bad courses 
were nigh bringing ruin on their neighbors as well 
as on themselves.* On one occasion they stood pro- 
visionless. They could expect no succor from the 
natives, and they had despoiled every Indian corn- 
field in their vicinity. In this extremity, Sanders, 
their chief man, sent to inform Bradford of his in- 
tention to get some corn from the Indians by force. 
The Pilgrims sent back a strong protest against the 
pillage ; advised the new planters to make shift to 
live, as they did, on ground-nuts, clams, and muscles ; 
and from their own well-nigh exhausted storehouse 
sent their disorderly and wasteful rivals a supply 
of corn.t 

This stock was soon gone ; then the Westonians 
desired the Pilgrims to unite with them in an ex- 
pedition to the Indian settlements on the coast line, 
in search of corn, beans, and other kindred com- 
modities. They, not unwilling to assist the needy 
planters in all honest ways, assented, and terms of 
agreement Avere signed designating the division of 
the articles obtained.:|: Detachments from both 
colonies embarked in the " Swan," the smaller of 
"Weston's vessels, and the shallop was also taken. 
Squanto accompanied the forage as interpreter.§ 
The Indians were ver}^ shy and could hardly be ap- 
proached. But finally the kindness and tact of 

* Cotton Mather, Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 58. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 200. Prince, Thatcher. 

t Banvard. § Ibid. 



THE RIVAL COLONIES. 175 

Bradford and Standisli thawed their icy reserve, 
so that the enterprise "was crowned with success. 
Twenty-seven hogsheads of corn and beans were 
bought.^^ Owing to the stranding of the shallop, 
the Plymouth governor was compelled to foot it 
home, some fifty miles ; but he " received all the 
respect that could be from the Indians on the 
journey."t 

The "Swan" returned, a day or two later, with 
the provisions, and, after their distribution, Wes- 
ton's men sailed from Plymouth in her to their 
plantation. 'J: 

This was destined to be Squanto's last service. 
A violent fever, which struck him on the expedition, 
soon laid him low. " Pray for me," said the dying 
Indian to Governor Bradford, "pray for me, that I 
may go to the white man's God in heaven." Shortly 
after, he distributed various trinkets among his 
English friends as memorials, and expired.§ De- 
spite his pranks and vanity, Squanto was a true 
friend to the Pilgrims, and his loss was a severe 
blow to the colonial interests.il 

Immediately on recovering from the fatigue in- 
cident to the late voyage, the Pilgrims went out into 
their fields to reap the harvest. The crop was slen- 
der, owing partly to the ignorance of the planters 
of the culture of Indian corn ; partly to their many 
other employments ; but chiefly to their inability 

* Thatcher, Wiuslow iu Young. t Ibid. 

X Banvard. § Bauvard, Bradford. 

II Thatcher, Winslow in Young. 



176 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

projDerly to attend it, caused by weakness from want 
of food.* 

It was apparent that famine must be entailed 
upon the next yefiY also, unless some other source 
of supply should be opened. This seemed impos- 
sible. There were no markets ; and they were out 
of trinkets for their Indian traffic. " Behold now 
another providence of God," says Bradford ; " a 
ship sent out by English merchants to discover all 
the harbors betwixt Virginia and the shoals of Cape 
Cod, and to trade along the coast where it could, 
entered our bay. She had on board a store of 
beads — which were then good trade — and some 
knives, but the crew would sell nothing save in the 
bunch and at high prices. However, we bought of 
them, and by this means were fitted again to trade 
for beaver and for corn with the red men."t 

In this same summer a new fort was built, "both 
strong and comely, Avhich was a sure defence." 
Isaac De Rasieres, who visited Plymouth at a 
somewhat later day, has left this description of the 
block citadel : " Upon the hill they have a large 
square house, with a flat roof, made of thick-sawn 
planks, stayed with oak-beams. On the top are 
ranged six cannon, which shoot iron-balls of four 
or five pounds, and command the surrounding 
country. The lower part they use for their church, 
where preaching is had on Sundays and the usual 
holidays. The settlers assemble by beat of drum, 
each with his musket or firelock, in front of the 
o Bradford. [ Ibid. 



THE EIVAL COLONIES 177 

captain's door ; thej have their cloaks on, and 
place themselves in order, three abreast, and are 
led by a sergeant without beat of dram. Behind 
comes the governor, in a long robe ; beside him on 
the right hand walks the preacher, and on the left 
hand the captain, with his side arms and cloak on, 
and with a small cane in his hand. So they march 
in good order, and on reaching the fort each sets 
his arms down near him and within easy grasp."* 

An open Bible in one hand, a shotted musket in 
the other — such was the manner in which the Pil- 
grim fathers went to church. 

* Cited in Kussell's Guide to PljTnoilth, p. 143. 



178 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 



CHAPTEE XV. 

THE EXPLOIT OF MILES STANDISH. 

" And Tvheu tliey talk of him, they shake their heads, 
And whisper one another in the ear ; 
And he that speaks doth gripe the hearer's wrist ; 
Whilst he that hears makes fearful action 
With wrinkled brows, with nods, and rolling ej'es." 

Shakspeaee. 

One short twelvemoutli witnessed tlie birtli and 
the death of Weston's colony. Its cradle was its 
grave. The Westonians, by their own wickedness 
and folly, beckoned ruin and blood to be their 
guests. The ears of the Pilgrims ached with listen- 
ing to the Indians' complaints of their injustice and 
robberies. Not a day passed which did not witness 
some woful scene of outrage.* Bradford and his 
coadjutors talked themselves hoarse in denuncia- 
tion ; messengers ran themselves footsore in carry- 
ing protests of warning, of expostulation, of ap- 
peal, t 

" Once," says Cotton Mather, " in preaching to 
a congregation there, one of the Pilgrims urged 
these settlers to ai3prove themselves a religious com- 
munity, as otherwise they would contradict the 
main end of planting this wilderness ; whereupon 
a well-known individual, then in the assembly, cried 

<* Winslow in Young. Thatcher, Bradford. 
t Prince, Hubbard, Banvard. 



EXPLOIT OF MILES STANDISH. 179 

out, ' Sir, you are mistaken ; you think you are 
preaching to the people at Plymouth bay : our main 
end was to catch fish.' "* 

The scoffers were soon to learn, under the bitter 
tuition of experience, that fish are a slippery foun- 
dation for a colony to build on — not so firm and 
sure as open Bibles and common schools. 

The loose morality and vicious courses of their 
mischievous neighbor-colonists caused the Pilgrims 
infinite trouble and unfeigned grief. And now, in 
the midst of their anxiety on this account, a report 
gave voice to the dangerous sickness of Massasoit :t 
it was said that the great sagamore, who had been 
their faithful friend, could not survive.:]: The Plym- 
outh settlers were profoundly sad ; they were also 
somewhat alarmed, for Corbitant, their former open 
foe, would, so they were told, clutch Massasoit's 
sceptre and wear his mantle on the chieftain's 
death. § The Pilgrims at once decided to send 
ambassadors to visit Massasoit, see if haply some- 
thing might not be done for him, and, in case of 
his decease, to negotiate a new peace with the suc- 
ceeding sachem. II 

For this service Winslow and Habbamak were 
selected ; and a gentleman who had wintered in 
Plymouth, and who was desirous of seeing the In- 
dians in their wigwam-homes, Mr. John Hampden,!! 

■"' Cotton Mather, Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 60. 

t Winslow in Young. Bradford, p. 131. X Ibid. 

§ Ibid. Banvard, p. 95. 

II Banvard, Winslow's Good News, etc. 

IT "Mr. Baylies, in his Memoirs of Plymouth, assumes that 



180 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

was, at his urgent solicitation, permitted to bear 
them company.* 

They set out at once, but had not gone verj' 
deep into the forest ere some Indians, whom they 
met at a river-ford, told them that Massasoit was 
dead. The envoys were shocked ; and Habbamak 
began to wail forth his chief's death-song : " Oh, 
great sachem. Oh, great heart, with many have I 
been acquainted, but none ever equalled thee." 
Then turning to his pale-face friend, he said, " Oh, 
Master Winslow, his like you will never see again. 
He was not like other Indians, false and bloody 
and implacable ; but kind, easily appeased when 
angry, and reasonable in his requirements. He 
was a Avise sachem, not ashamed to ask advice, 
governing better with mild, than other chiefs did 
with severe measures. I fear you have not now 
one faithful friend left in the wigwams of the red 
men."t He would then break forth again in loud 
lamentations, " enough," says Winslow, " to have 
made the hardest heart sob and wail."| 

But time pressed, and Winslow, bidding Hab- 
bamak " leave wringing of his hands," trudged on 
over the patches of snow, through the naked for- 
ests shivering in the gusty winds of March, under 
the sullen sky. Corbitant's lodge was near ; here 
it was hoped that fuller intelligence might be gain- 

this was the great Hampden, vol. 1, p. 410. I find no facts suffi- 
cient to sustain that oiainion." Elliot, vol. 1, p. 93, note. 

* Elliot, Banvard, Winslow. t "Winslow's Good News. 

X Ibid. 



EXPLOIT OF MILES STANDISH. 181 

ed. Corbitant was not at home, but liis squaw 
iuformecl tliem that Massasoit was not yet dead, 
though he could scarcely live long enough to per- 
mit his visitors to close his eyes.* 

Reinvigorated by this news, and persuaded that 
while there was life there was hope, the envoys 
again pressed forward with eager footsteps. Soon 
Massasoit's wigwam was reached. A cordon of 
visitors surrounded it ; and so great was the crowd, 
that it was with difficulty that the Pilgrims pushed 
through and gained an entrance. "When they 
succeeded, they beheld a scene so repulsive and so 
annoying as to be quite sufficient to banish what-, 
ever vitality the sick sagamore might still possess. 
Not only was the lodge crammed with filthy In- 
dians, whose number effectually excluded all fresh 
air, but the pow-wows were busied in yelling their 
magical incantations, now rubbing the sick sachem, 
now wailing, now making frantic gestures ; so that, 
had the disease possessed intelligence and been 
cognizant of what was taking place, it would have 
been effectually frightened away. Six or eight 
'medicine-men' were manipulating him at once, 
and his ears were dinned with yells, when he should 
have been perfectly quiet."t 

When the pow-wows had concluded their super- 
stitious spells and exorcisms, they told Massasoit 
that Winslow had come to visit him. The sick In- 
dian, turning on his skin couch, greeted the Eng- 
lishman kindly. Disease had almost choked him, 
* Winslow'a Good News. f Banvard, pp. 95, 96. 



182 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

and quite robbed him of sight ; he was indeed near 
death. Winslow at once conveyed the assurance 
of the deep grief of the colonists at his sickness, 
informed him that the pale-faces had sent phj^sic 
for his restoration to health, and offered himself 
to undertake the cure. These words, being trans- 
lated by Habbamak, the Indian at once and cor- 
dially thanked Winslow, and accepted his good 
offices.* 

The skilful Englishman, with a " confection of 
many comfortable conserves," soon worked a cure. 
The convalescent sagamore said, " Now I know that 
the English are indeed my friends, and love me ; 
while I live I will never forget this kindness,"t 
Nobly did he keep his word ; for, after requesting 
"the pale-face medicine" to exercise his skill upon 
others of his tribe, who were down with the same 
disease which had laid him low, his gratitude was 
so warm that he disclosed to the pale-face leech the 
fact that a wide-spread and well-matured conspir- 
acy was afoot to exterminate Weston's colony, in 
revenge for injuries heaped upon the Indians; that 
all the northeastern tribes were in the league ; and 
that the massacre was to cover the Pilgrims also, 
lest they should avenge the fall of their neighbors. 
" A chief was here at the setting of the sun," added 
Massasoit, " and he told me that the pale-faces did 
not love me, else they would visit me in my pain, 
and he urged me to join the war party. But I said, 
No. Now if you take the chiefs of the league, and 

<* Winslow's Good News. t Ibid. 



EXPLOIT OF MILES STANDISH. 183 

kill them, it will end the war-trail in the blood of 
those who made it, and save the settlements."* 

Thankfal to Massasoit for this disclosure, and 
profoundly impressed with its importance, the en- 
voys speedily bade the sagamore good-by, and 
started for Plymouth. Reaching Corbitant's lodge 
towards evening, they decided to sleep with him. 
" We found him," says Winslow, " a notable politi- 
cian, yet full of merry jests and squibs, and never 
better pleased than when the like are turned again 
on him."t 

" If I were sick, as Massasoit has been," asked 
he, "would Mr. Governor send me medicine?" 

" Yes," said Winslow. 

" Would you bring it ?" queried Corbitant. 

" Certainly," was the reply. 

At this the sachem was delighted. He resumed 
his questions. 

" How did you dare to go so far into our hunt- 
ing-grounds, with only one pale-face and Habba- 
mak?" 

"Because," said Winslow, "where there is true 
love, there can be no fear ; my heart is so upright 
towards the Indians, that I have no cause to fear to 
go among them." 

" If you love us so much," retorted the shrewd 
chief, " why is it that, when we go to Plymouth, 
you stand on guard, and present the mouths of 
your big guns at us?" 

" Oh," was the reply, " that 's the most honor- 

* Winslow's Good News. =j: Ibid. 



184 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

able reception we could give you. 'Tis the Euglish 
way of saluting distinguished guests." 

" Ugh," said Corbitant, with the peculiar Indian 
grunt and shrug, " perhaps ; but I do n't like such 
ways of shaking hands."* 

Having noticed that before and after eacli meal 
his guests offered thanks, Corbitant asked them why 
they did it. " This led to a long conversation upon 
the character and works of the great Father ; on 
the relations which liis creatures sustain to him as 
their preserver and constant benefactor, and the 
duties which all owe to him as such, with which the 
chief seemed pleased. When the ten command- 
ments were recited, he approved of all save the 
seventh ; he saw many objections to tying a man 
to one woman."t 

" This," says Banvard, " is a specimen of the 
manner in which the Pilgrims endeavored to com- 
municate religious truths to the minds of their igno- 
rant Indian neighbors. When among them, they ob- 
served religious exercises at their meals ; continued 
the practice of morning and evening services ; strictly 
regarded the Sabbath ; and thus provoked inquiries. 
Then, when opportunity was given, they imparted, 
in a homely, familiar way, the elementary truths of 

the Bible."t 

After passing a pleasant night in Corbitant's 
wigwam, the Pilgrims resumed their journey, and 
after twentj'-four hours' walk reached Plymouth. 

They immediately imparted what they knew of 
« Banvard, pp, 101, 102. f Ibid. f Banvard, p. 102. 



EXPLOIT OF MILES STANDISH. 185 

the Indian plot to the governor. Bradford sum- 
moned the settlers to deliberate. Upon examina- 
tion other evidence was found which corroborated 
Massasoit's disclosure ; and even in the midst of 
this consideration, one of Weston's pioneers came 
in, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, "with a pack on his 
back ;" and "though he knew not a foot of the way, 
yet he got safe to Plymouth by losing his way," as 
he was pursued by the Indians, and would have 
been caught had he travelled by the accustomed 
track.* 

" He told us," says Bradford, "how affairs stood 
at Wessagusset ; how miserable all were ; and that he 
dare not tarry there longer, as, by what he had ob- 
served, he apprehended those settlers would shortly 
be all knocked in the head."t 

Startled by the imminence of the peril, Bradford 
at once despatched Standish with a small squad of 
men to warn and succor the menaced colonists. 
On reaching Wessagusset Standish boarded the 
"Swan," which lay moored in the harbor. Not a 
soul was on her. Surprised, the Pilgrim captain fired 
his musket. Several colonists then ran down to the 
shore. " How dare you leave your ship unguarded, 
and live in so much security?" asked he. "Why," 
was the reply of the colonists, who were insensible 
of their peril, " we have no fear of the Indians, but 
live with them, and suffer them to lodge with us, 
without ever having a gun or sword, or ever need- 
ing one." 

* Winslo-w's Good News. + Bradford, p. 131. 



186 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

"Well, well," cried Standisli, "if you have no oc- 
casion for vigilance, so mucli the better." He then 
went ashore. Pitiful was the situation of the pio- 
neers ; four words j)aint the picture ; filth, hunger, 
disease, nakedness. " After they began to come 
into want," remarks the old Pilgrim chronicler, 
" many sold their clothes and bed-coverings ; oth- 
ers — so base were they — became servants to the 
Indians, and would cut wood and fetch water for 
them, for a cup of corn ; some fell to stealing, and 
when they found the hiding-places where the natives 
stored their corn, they despoiled them, and this 
night and day, while the savages complained griev- 
ously. Now they were come to such misery that 
some starved and some died of cold. One, in gath- 
ering shell-fish, was so weak from hunger that he 
stuck fast in the mud, and not being able to pull clear, 
he was drowned by the incoming tide. Most had 
left their cabins and were scattered up and down 
through the woods and by the water-side, here six 
and there ten, grubbing for nuts and clams. By 
this carriage they were contemned and scorned by 
the Indians as ' paleface squaws,' and they insulted 
over them right insolently; insomuch that many 
times, as they lay thus scattered abroad, and had 
set a pot over a fire and filled it with ground-nuts 
or shell-fish, when it was ready the natives would 
come and, pushing them aside, eat it up; and at 
night the Indians, to revenge their thefts, stole their 
blankets and left them to lie all night in the cold. 
Yea, in the end, they were fain to hang one of their 



EXPLOIT OF MILES STANDISH. 187 

own men, whom tlie}^ could not reclaim from steal- 
ing, at the dictation of the savages."* 

Standish at once assembled the leading colo- 
nists, and opened to them his budget of news. The 
proposed massacre, the actors, all was laid bare. 
As frightened now as they were blinded before, all 
besought him to save them, and placed themselves 
in his hands. All stragglers were called in and sup- 
plied from his stores, a pint of corn a day for each 
man. This done, Standish began to dissemble ; he 
wished to lure the chiefs of the conspiracy into his 
clutches, and so fight guile with guile.f 

Though suspecting that their plot had been dis- 
covered, the Indians so greatly despised the colo- 
nists that they came daily into TVessagusset, utter- 
ing gibes and menaces loud and deep. They even 
ventured to taunt Standish. One of the braves, 
Pecksuot, a bold fellow, but a braggadocio, " went 
to Habbamak, who was with Standish as his inter- 
preter, and told him that he had been informed that 
the captain had come to ' kill him and his friends.' 
* Tell him,' he said, ' we know it, but we neither fear 
him nor will we shun him ; let him attack us when 
he pleases, he will not surprise us.' "| 

At other times the Indians would enter the plan- 
tation, and, in the presence of the captain, sharpen 
their knives, feel their points, and jeer. One of their 
chiefs, Witawamat, often boasted of the fine quali- 
ties of his knife, on the handle of which was cut a 

* Bradford, pp. 130, 131. 

f Winslow's Good News. J Banvaxd. 



18S THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

woman's face ; " but," said he, " I have anotlier at 
home with which I have killed both French and Eng- 
lish, and that hath a man's face on it ; by- and-by these 
two must marry."* Not long after, he said again, 
holding up his knife, " By-and-by this shall see and 
eat, but not speak," in allusion to the muskets of 
the English, which always reported their doings.t 

Pecksuot was an Indian of immense muscular 
size and strength ; Standish was a small man. 
Once the brave said to the captain : " You are a 
great officer, but a little man ; and I am not a 
sachem, yet I possess great strength and courage.":]; 

Standish quietly pocketed these insults, and 
awaited his chance. It soon came. Pecksuot, 
Wetawamat, and two others, chiefs of the con- 
spiracy, were finally all entrapped in one cabin. 
Standish with three comrades and Habbamak were 
also present. The door was secured and a terrific 
death-grapple at once ensued. There were no 
shrieks, no cries, no war-whoops. Nothing was 
heard save the fierce panting of the combatants 
and the dull thud of the blows given and returned. 
Habbamak stood quietly by, and meddled not. 
Soon the Englishmen were successful ; each slew 
his opponent, and Standish himself closing with 
Pecksuot, snatched from the braggadocio's neck 
his vaunted knife, and plunged it into his foeman's 
heart. One blow did not kill him ; frenzied and 
glaring, he leaj)ed on Standish and tugged wildly 
at his throat. The struggle was brief but awful, 
* Banvard, p. 116. t Ibid. J Ibid. 



EXPLOIT OF MILES STANDISH. 189 

and Standisli called his whole skill into requisition 
to complete his victory. At length the death-blow 
was dealt : 

"See, his face is black and full of blood ; 
His eye-balls farther out than when he lived ; 
Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man ; 
His hair upreared, his nostrils stretched with struggling ; 
His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped 
And tugged for life, and was by strength subdued."* 

After the tragedy was over, Habbamak said to 
Standish, while a smile played over his swarthy 
features: "Yesterday, Pecksuot, bragging of his 
strength and stature, said you were a great captain, 
but a little man ; but to-day I see that you are big 
enough to lay him on the ground. "i' 

Standisli did not pause for congratulation, nor 
did he care much for it ; knowing the value of 
promptitude, he at once headed a foray on the 
neighboring Indian villages. Several skirmishes 
ensued ; the savages, beaten and terrified, retreated 
from morass to morass. The conspiracy was buried 
with its originators ; and many of the sachems who 
had joined the league, Conacum, Aspinet, lyanough, 
died from diseases contracted in their headlong 
flight.^ 

This was considered the "capital exploit" of 
Miles Standish. It struck such wholesome terror 
into the hearts of the surrounding tribes, that, in 
connection with the uniform justice and kindliness of 
the Pilgrims, it secured peace for half a century.§ 

« Shakspeare. f Winslow, cited in Banvard, p. 120. 

X Winslow, Elliot, Palfrey. § Ibid. 



190 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

The Westonians, discouraged and disgusted, 
resolved to break their ranks and give up their set- 
tlement. Standish "offered to escort them to Plym- 
outh, and give them entertainment till Weston or 
some supply should come," says Bradford; "or if 
they liked any other course better, he promised to 
help them all he could. They thanked him, but 
most of them desired him to grant them some corn, 
then they Avould go with their ship to the eastward, 
where, haply, they might hear of Weston, or of 
some supply from him. That failing, since it was 
the time of year for ships to frequent the fishing 
waters, they could Avork among the fishermen till 
they could get passage into England. So they 
shiiDped what they had of any value, and the cap- 
tain gave them all the corn he could — scarcely leav- 
ing himself sufiicient to take him home — and saw 
the colonists well out of the bay; then he himself 
sailed back to Plymouth in triumph."* 

There the head of Wetawamat was impaled, and 
set up prominently in the fort ; and an Indian who 
had been sent in pursuit of that pioneer who had 
first brought word to the Pilgrims of the condition 
of his fellow-settlers, and had been himself cap- 
tured, recognized it. The Pilgrim Fathers were not 
revengeful ; they did not love to shed blood ; so 
when Habbamak vouched for the friendship of this 
captive, he was liberated, and sent home to tell his 
tribe that the colonists loved peace, but that they 
could fight in case of need. Ere long the offending 
* Winslow, Bradford, Thatcher. 



EXPLOIT OF MILES STANDISH. 191 

red men sent peace-oiferings into Plymouth, and 
sued for and obtained amity.* 

Bradford, Winslow, and the rest, kept their 
friends in England and Holland as fully informed 
as possible of the daily history of the colony; and 
of course so memorable an event as this conspiracy 
and its suppression, received a profuse recital. 
When Robinson heard of the rencontre, he wrote 
back these words, finely illustrative of his charac- 
ter : " Oh, how happy a thing had it been, that you 
had converted some before you killed any."t 

As for Weston's colon}^, this was the last of it. 
Some of the better of the pioneers went to Plym- 
outh ; others finally found their way back to Eng- 
land. They had landed under far better aus- 
pices than the Pilgrims. They were welcomed by 
fellow-countrymen, and sheltered throughout the 
winter. They commenced their settlement in the 
summer, when nature laughed, and the hillsides 
Avere gay with flowers, and the air sweet with the 
songs of birds. They possessed a ship. They had 
had been left competently provided in the wilder- 
ness. Yet they were no sooner settled than they 
were unsettled. Bankrupt and starving, they sought 
safety in flight. This was the fate of a colony 
whose " main end was to fish," which was founded 
on no higher law than the greed of gain. 

" ' Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit 
for the public,' observed the childless Lord Bacon, 

e Winslow, Bradford, Thatcher. 
■| Morton, Young's Chronicles. 



192 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

with, complacent self-love, ' have proceeded from 
the unmarried or childless men.' Weston's com- 
pany, after having boasted of their strength as far 
superior to Plymouth, which was enfeebled, they 
said, by the presence of women and children, yet 
owed their deliverance to the colony that had many 
women, children, and weak ones, with them."* 

Thus it should seem that weakness is sometimes 
strength. Ethics are better buoys than numbers. 
Devout weakness is always stronger than self-com- 
placent and impious strength. Justice and a help- 
ful hand — these are the palladiums. 

' ' Too happy were men, if they understood 
There is no safety but in doing good."t 

* Bancroft, Hist. United States, vol. 1, p. 319. 
f Fountain's Rewards of Virtue. 



A CHECKERED RECORD. 193 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A CHECKERED RECORD. 

"Naught shall prevail against us, or disturb 
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold 
Is full of blessings." 

WOEDSWOBTH. 

A FEW weeks after the final abandonment of 
Wessagusset by Weston's colonists, a fishing-smack 
dro]3pecl anchor off Plymouth. A boat was low- 
ered, and in a trice an Englishman, in the guise of 
a blacksmith, was landed. He seemed anxious to 
learn the condition and prospects of Weston's set- 
tlement, and was evidently ignorant of its untoward 
fate. On being informed of the conspirac}^, massa- 
cre, and abandonment of the project, he seemed to 
be profoundly agitated. This stranger was Weston 
himself, once a prosperous London merchant, now 
alone in the wilderness, a ruined man. "A strange 
alteration there was in him to those who had known 
him in his former flourishing condition," moralizes 
the old Plymouth governor; "so uncertain are the 
mutable things of this unstable world. And yet 
men set their hearts upon them, though they daily 
see the vanity thereof."* 

Weston was anxious to know the worst. He 

« Bradford, p. 133. 

Pilgiini Falhers. O 



194 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

also hoped that something might yet be saved. 
He sailed iu a shallop for the seat of his downfallen 
venture. But misfortune dogged him. He was 
shipwrecked, and cast ashore with nothing but the 
clothes upon his person. Soon after, being discov- 
ered by the Indians, he was stripped even of these, 
and left to find his way nude to the coast of Maine. 
This he did ; and borrowing a suit of clothes from 
the fishermen, he returned to Plymouth in a pitia- 
ble plight, and begged the loan of some beaver-skins 
as a stock in trade to commence life anew.* 

The Pilgrims were themselves in a sad strait, 
" but they pitied his case, and remembered former 
courtesies. They told him he saw their want, and 
that they knew not when they should have a sup- 
ply ; also how the case stood betwixt the Merchant- 
adventurers and themselves, which he well knew. 
They said they had not much beaver, and if they 
should let him have it, it might create a mutiny, 
since the colony had no other means of procuring 
food and clothes, both which they sadly needed. 
Yet they told him they would help him, considering 
his necessity, but must do it secretly ; so they let 
him have one hundred beaver-skins. Thus they 
helped him when all the world failed him, and he 
was enabled to go again to the ships, buy provis- 
ions, and equip himself. But he requited his ben- 
efactors ill, for he proved afterwards a bitter enemy 
on all occasions, and repaid his debt in nothing but 
reproaches and evil words. Yea, he divulged it to 
* Winslow iu Yoimg. Banvard. 



A CHECKERED RECORD. 195 

some that were none of tlieir best friends, wliile he 
yet had the beaver in his boat, and boasted that he 
could now set them all by the ears, because they 
had done more than they could answer in letting 
him have the skins. But his malice could not pre- 
vail"* 

Strangled by this episode, Weston was now dead 
to the Pilgrims, and he disappears from the after- 
history of Plymouth.t 

Through all these months, hunger continued to 
gnaw the vitals of the Pilgrim colony. To secure a 
plentiful future, they decided to plant a large grain- 
crop this spring. But the labor of the settlers was 
hampered by an abnormal social arrangement. 
Plymouth fretted under an agreement which rob- 
bed work of its sj)ur and its crown. Up to the 
month of April, 1623, a community of interest was 
strictly maintained. This did not arise from any 
peculiar fantastic notions among the colonists, but 
was required by a clause — reluctantly assented to — 
of their engagement with the Merchant-adventurers 
in England. I The contract tied the Pilgrims to the 
communal plan for a specified season.§ Land was 
not to be owned by individuals ; it was common ; 
each man cultivated what he pleased, and threw 
the product of his labor into the general store. 

* Bradford, pp. 133, 13i. 

t 111 the latter part of 1623, Weston went to Virginia ; thence 
he returned to England, where he disappears from history. Pal- 
frey, Tol. 1, p. 207. 

t Judge Davis, note on Morton's Memorial. 

§ Winslow in Young, p. 346, Palfrey, Thatcher, etc. 



196 THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 

From the stock thus gained OA^erseers supplied the 
settlers in equal quantities.* 

Infinite were the vexations, multitudinous were 
»the trials, which resulted. Now a general meeting 
was called, and this question was anxiously dis- 
cussed. Finally it was decided,- though only for 
reasons of the sternest necessity, to deviate some- 
what from the form of the contract. 

As the communal idea has, in our day, won wide 
favor with theorists and ideal dreamers, we subjoin 
and commend the weighty words of Bradford, who 
had experienced the evils of that vicious system, to 
the Fourierite philosophers : 

"At length, after much debate, the governor, 
with the advice of the chiefest among the Pilgrims, 
gave way that each man should set corn for his 
individual benefit, and in that respect trust to him- 
self; though, remembering the contract, all other 
things were to go on in the communal way till time 
freed them. So to every family a parcel of land 
was assigned, but only for present use, no division 
for inheritance being made, and all boys and youth 
were ranged under some family. This had good 
success, for it made all hands very industrious ; so 
that much more corn was planted than otherwise 
would have been by any means the governor could 
have brought to bear. He was saved a deal of 
trouble, and the division gave great content. Even 
the women went into the field, taking with them 
their little ones, who before would allege weakness 
* Winslow in Young, p. 346. Palfrej^ Thatcher, Banvard, etc. 



A CHECKEEED EECOKD. 197 

and inability, and whom to have compelled would 
have been thought grievously tyrannical. 

" The experience which Avas had in this common 
interest and condition, tried sundry years, and that 
among godly and sober men, may well evince the 
vanity of that conceit of Plato and of other an- 
cients, applauded by some of later times, that the 
abolition of individual property, and the introduc- 
tion of a community of wealth, Avould make men 
haj)py and flourishing. This community, so far as 
it went at Plymouth, was found to breed much con- 
fusion and discontent, and to retard labor. The 
young men, that were most able and fit for service, 
did repine that they should spend their time and 
strength in working for the families of others, 
without other recompense than a bare subsistence. 
The strong man and the man of parts had no greater 
share than he that was weak, and not able to do a 
quarter the other could. This was thought injus- 
tice. The aged and graver sort — ranked and equal- 
ized with the meaner and younger men in the divis- 
ion of labor and provisions — esteemed it some indig- 
nity and disrespect unto their gray heads. And for 
men's wives to be bidden to do service for others, 
as dressing meat and washing clothes, they deemed 
it a kind of slavery which many husbands could not 
well brook. So if this arrangement did not cut off 
those relations which God hath set amongst men, 
yet it did at least much diminish and take off the 
mutual respect that should be preserved amongst 
them, and destroyed individuality. And things 



198 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

would have been worse, liad the Pilgrims been 
more of a different condition. Let none object that 
this is man's corruption, and nothing to the philos- 
ophy per se. Yes ; but since all men have this cor- 
ruption in them, God in his wisdom saw another 
course fitter for them."* 

When the Pilgrims had finished planting, they 
knew that many weary weeks must elapse ere they 
could reap what they had sown. Meantime " all 
their victuals were sj^ent, and they rested on God's 
providence alone, many times not knowing at night 
where to get a bit of any thing the next day ; so 
that, as has been well said, they, above all people 
in the world, had occasion to pray God to give 
them their daily bread."t 

As the colonists had " but one boat left, and she 
not over-well fitted, they were divided into gangs of 
six or seven each, and so went out with a net they 
had bought, to take bass and such like fish by 
course, each company knowing its turn. No sooner 
was the boat discharged of what she had brought 
than the next gang took her. Nor did they return 
till they had caught something, though it were five 
or six days before ; for they knew there was noth- 
ing at home, and to return empty-handed would be 
a great discouragement to the rest. Yea, they 
strove which should do best. If the boat was gone 
over-long or got little, then all went to the shore to 
seek shell-fish, which at low water they dug from 
the sand. They also got now and then a deer, one 
* Bradford, pp. 135, 136. \ Ibid., p. 136. 



I 



A CHECKEEED EECOKD. 199 

or two of tlie fittest being appointed to range tlie 
woods ; and the meat thus gotten was fairly divided. 
All these wants were borne with great patience and 
alacrity of spirit.""" God was thanked for what he 
gave, and for the rest all hoped. 

The unusually large corn-crop just planted led 
the Pilgrims to believe that the approaching har- 
vest would definitively stop the hungry mouth of 
their necessities; but, alas, this expectation seemed 
about to be blasted. A severe drought met them 
in the opening months of the summer. From the 
middle of May to the middle of July there was no 
rain. All nature seemed to pant with thirst. The 
streams dwindled, and ceased to laugh. The sum- 
mer foliage seemed in the " sear and yellow leaf" 
of autumn. The flowers held out their parched and 
shrivelled tongues. The sprouting corn began to 
wither in the blade. Famine seemed inevitable. 
In this emergency, the devout Pilgrims resorted to 
the " mercy-seat," and besought Him who had so 
often appeared to succor them to aid them now, 
A special day of fasting and prayer was appointed ; 
and we may still 

' ' hear the Pilgrims' peaceful prayer 
Swelling along the silent air, 
Amid the forest wild. " 

It has been well said, that answers to prayer 
do not generally come with observation. They are 
often sent in a way which is hid from most persons, 
and frequently even from those who receive them. 

* Bradford, p. 136. 



200 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

There are, however, instances in which these an- 
swers are so striking as to be visible to all. Some 
instances of this kind may be found in the early 
history of New England.* 

On this occasion the day, which was kept with 
marked earnestness and solemnity, opened with a 
cloudless sky, while the sun poured its clear, scorch- 
ing rays full upon the shrinking plains ; but lo, says 
Winslow in his recital, ere the close of the services, 
" the sky was overcast, the clouds gathered on all 
sides, and on the next morning distilled such soft, 
sweet, and moderate showers of rain, continuing 
some fourteen days, and mixed with such seasona- 
ble weather, as it was hard to say whether our with- 
ered corn or our drooping affections were most 
quickened and revived, such Avas the bounty and 
goodness of our God."t 

Habbamak, who was in Plymouth at this time, 
exclaimed as the rain began to fall, " Now I see 
that the Englishman's God is a good God, for he 
has heard you, and sent you rain, and that without 
storms and tempests, which we usually have with 
our rain, and which beat down our corn ; but yours 
stands whole and erect still; surely your God is a 
good God."| 

But while these timely and gentle showers saved 
their crop and secured the future, the pinching want 
of the passing days was not stayed. Indeed, so bit- 
ter grew the famine, that on one occasion the colony 

* White's Incidents, p. 41. ■(■ Winslow in Young. 

J White's Incidents, p. 42. 



A CHECKEEED EECORD. 201 

was reduced to a single pint of corn ; which, when 
divided among the Pilgrims, gave each five ker- 
nels.* 

During the height of this suffering, a package of 
home-letters was received. From these the settlers 
gleaned some news which was of interest to them. 
It seems that Mr. John Pierce, in whose name their 
patent had been taken,t had grown covetous, and 
attempted to play both the Pilgrims and the Mer- 
chant-adventurers false. When he saw "how hope- 
fnlly the Plymouth colony was seated," the trustee 
grew desirous of becoming lord-proprietary, and 
holding them as his tenants, " to sue in his courts 
as lord."| So he surreptitiously sued out a new 
patent, of much larger extent, in his own name, 
and then fitted out an expedition headed by him- 
self, to go and take possession of his usurped 
domain.§ But " God marvellously crossed him." 
"Having sailed no farther than the Downs," says 
Cotton Mather, " his ship sprang aleak ; and be- 
sides tliis disaster, which alone was enough to have 
stopped the voyage, one strand of the cable was 
accidentally cut, by which means it broke in a stress 
of Avind, and all were in extreme danger of being 
wrecked ujDon the sands. Having with much cost 
recruited this loss, and increased the number of 
emigrants. Pierce again put to sea; but in mid- 

* Banvard, Thatcher, Morton's Memorial. 

t Chap. 10, p. 137. 

I Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 320. Bradford, p. 138. 

§ Morton's Memorial, pp. 95-97. Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 210, 211, 

9* 



202 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

ocean one of the saddest and longest storms known 
since the days of the apostle Paul drove the ship 
home to England once more, the vessel well-nigh 
torn to pieces, and the emigrants, though all saved, 
weary and affrighted. Pierce, by all his tumbling 
backward and forward, was by this time grown so 
sick of his patent that he vomited it up. He as- 
signed it over to the home company;'^ but they 
afterwards obtained another, under the umbrage 
whereof they could more effectually carry on the 
affairs of their colony."! 

The letter from the Merchant-adventurers, which 
recited these facts, closed with a'cheering promise: 
" We have agreed with two merchants for a ship of 
a hundred and forty tons, called the 'Anne,' which is 
to be ready the last of this month of April, to bring 
sixty passengers and sixty tons of goods to you."| 

While the Pilgrims, enlivened by this news, 
were living on hope and five kernels of corn, they 
received a visitor. Captain Francis West, admiral 
of New England, who sailed under a commission to 
prevent all trading and fishing on the coast-line 
without a license from the Home Council, called at 
Plymouth. Of him the necessitous Pilgrims pur- 
chased a few edibles at high prices.§ The old 
sailor's mission failed ; the fishermen were too 
strong and independent to be repressed. Ere long, 

* Pierce sold his patent for five himdred pounds ; he gave fifty 
for it." Banvard, p. 133. See Palfrey, ut antea, on this jjoint. 
t Cotton Mather's MagnaUa, vol. 1, p. 60. 
t Cited in exteuso ill Bradford, pp. 139, 140. 
§ Bradford, p. HI. Winslow in Young. 



A CHECKEEED EECOKD 203 

on their petition, Parliament decreed that fishing 
should be free.* 

Two weeks after the departure of "West, the 
promised reinforcements arrived; the "Anne" land- 
ed her recruits, and a goodly store of provisions 
besides.f 

So low was the colonial larder, that " the best 
dish they could present their friends with was a 
lobster or a piece of fish, without bread, or any 
thing else but a cup of fair sj^ring water.":]: 

The " Anne" w^as shortly followed by the " Little 
James," a vessel of forty-four tons burden, "built 
to stay in the country. "§ 

" Among the pioneers just arrived," says Cotton 
Mather, " were divers worthy and useful men, who 
were come to seek the welfare of this little Israel ; 
though at their coming they were as differently 
affected as the rebuilders of the temple at Jerusa- 
lem ; some were grieved when they saw how bad 
the condition of their friends was, and others were 
glad that it was no worse."|| 

Among the arrivals at this time " were, Cuth- 
bertson, a member of the Leyden church, the wives 
of Fuller and Coake, and two daughters of Brew- 
ster. There were at least twelve ladies. One of 
these became the wife of Bradford ; Standish mar- 
ried another. Alice Southworth, Bradford's second 

* Bauvard, p. 134. 

f Morton's Memorial, Thatcher, Palfrey. 

J Bradford, p. 146. § Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 211, 212. 

II Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1. p. 60. 



204 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

wife, is said to have been his first love. Both being 
widowed, a correspondence took jAace, in the sequel 
of which she came out from England, and married 
her some-time lover at Plymouth."- 

" Some of your old friends go to you with these 
lines," wrote Cushman; "they come dropping to 
you, and by degrees I hope ere long you shall en- 
joy them all."t 

Now also this commercial partnership beheld 
a vision of the immortal renown to which its hum- 
ble agents were destined. " Let it not be grievous 
to you," wrote the prescient scribe of the Home 
Company, "that you have been instruments to break 
the ice for others who came after jou with less dif- 
ficulty ; the honor shall be yours to the world's end. 
We bear you always in our hearts, and our cordial 
afi'ection is toward you all, as are the hearts of hun- 
dreds more who never saw your faces, but who pray 
for your safety as for their own, that the same God 
who hath so marvellously preserved you from seas, 
foes, famine, will still preserve you from all future 
dangers, and make you honorable among men and 
glorious in bliss at the last day. "J 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 212, note. 

t Bradford, p. 145. t Ibid., pp. 145, 146. 



I 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 205 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 

"I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, 
With well-placed words of glozing courtesy, 
Baited with reason not unplausible, 
Wind me into the easy-hearted man, 
And hug him into snares. " 

Milton's Comus. 

The Plymoutli colonists were men of active en- 
terprise. They were miserly of time, and hoarded 
their hours. They were also anxious to please the 
Merchant-adventurers. So now, as quickly as might 
be, the "Anne" was laden with clapboards, beaver 
skins, and divers furs ; letters whose every line was 
a loving pulsation, were indited to the lingering ab- 
sentees at Leyden and to home circles in England; 
and on the lOtli of September, 1623, the vessel 
sailed, carrying with her Edward Winslow, who was 
sent over to report progress, and to procure such 
necessities as M'ere demanded by the imperious 
wants of the expanding colony.* 

After watching the "Anne" until she dipped 
below the horizon, the pilgrims returned from the 
shore and prepared to go into the harvest field. 
This season " God gave them plenty, and the face 
of things was changed, to the grateful rejoicing of 
all hearts." The granaries were filled. Some of 
•-' Pi-ince, Morton's Memorial, Bradford, Thatcher's Plymouth. 



206 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

the abler and more industrious had to spare, and 
the perturbed ghost of famine, which had so long 
haunted Plymouth, was definitively laid.* 

Many attributed this plenteous harvest to the 
partial abandonment of the communal plan, and in 
consequence the desire for complete emancipation 
from its thraldom became more general and earn- 
est.! 

Some of the late comers had sailed not under 
articles of agreement with the company of Mer- 
chant-adventurers, but on their individual account; 
so they landed free from those conditions which 
shackled the elder settlers. Under these circum- 
stances it was thought fit, ere these outsiders were 
received and permitted to settle and build in Pljan- 
outh, to exact of them certain si:)ecified conditions 
precedent. So reasonable a requisition won ready 
assent, and an agreement was signed to this effect : 
The colony on its part, the outsiders on theirs, cove- 
nanted to show each the other all reasonable cour- 
tesies ; all were to be alike subject to such laws 
and orders as wei'e already made, or might thereaf- 
ter be made, for the public good; the outsiders were 
freed and exempted from the general employments 
which the communal condition required of its par- 
ticipants, except for purposes of defence and such 
work as tended to the lasting welfare of the colony ; 
iliey were taxed for the maintenance of the govern- 
ment, and debarred from traffic with the Indians 
for their individual profit, until the expiration of 

* Bradford, p. 147. f Ibid. 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 207 

the seven years which tied the colonists to the com- 
munality.* 

Towards the middle of September, while the Pil- 
grims were in the midst of their harvest labors, Rob- 
ert Gorges, a son of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, famous 
as a voyagiiir and discoverer, sailed into Plymouth 
bay.t He had recently returned from the Venetian 
■wars, and now came armed with a commission from 
the New England council as governor-general of the 
territory from Acadia to Narragansett Bay 4 With 
him were families of emigrants equij)ped to com- 
mence a settlement, and a learned and Avorthy cler- 
gyman of the English church, William Morrel, an 
important item of whose mission was to " exercise 
superintendence over the New England churches."§ 

Gorges tarried at Plymouth about a fortnight, 
receiving friendly and cordial entertainment.il He 
had been advised to select Admiral West, Christo- 
pher Levett, and the existing governor of Plymouth, 
as his advisers. This he did ; and in this body was 
vested the full authority to administer justice in all 
cases, " capital, criminal, and civil," throughout the 
province of New England.lF This arranged, Gorges 
sailed for Wessagusset, the site of Weston's discom- 
fiture, and, landing his colonists, essayed to plant 
on that inauspicious coast a jjermanent settlement. ■•* 

This colony, like its predecessor, was fated. 

« Bradford, p. 148. 

j- Felt., Hist. New England, Prince, Bradford. 

X Felt, Bradford, Morton's Memorial, etc. 

§ Felt, vol. 1, p. 77. II Bradford, p. 149. 

IT Ibid. Morton's Memorial. ** Ibid. 



208 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

Hardly surviving its birth, it lingered through a 
twelvemonth, and then dissolved. Sir Ferdinand 
Gorges and his company, discouraged by the oppo- 
sition of the Parliament to their New England 
schemes, would adventure nothing."'^ In the spring 
of 1624 he summoned his son home; and a little 
later Morrel, who had made no effort to exercise his 
superintendency, followed him, and this gave the 
second settlement at Wessagusset its coup de grdce.f 
Morrel was not spoiled by his disappointment. 
" I shall always be desirous for the advancement of 
those colonies," he said.:}: And in a Latin poem 
addressed to the New England Council, he wrote : 

" If these poor lines may win that country love, 
Or kind compassion in the English move, 
Or painful men to a good land invite, 
Whose holy works the natives may enlight, — 
If Heaven grant this, to see there built I trust, 
An English kingdom from the Indian dust.'"§ 

But while "unmerciful disaster followed thick 
and followed faster" this enterprise of Gorges and 
several kindred ones,l| smiting them into early graves, 
Plymouth, clasping hands with God, strengthened 
daily, and walked forward to assured success. Early 
in 1624, the annual election occurred. Governor 
Bradford, anxious to retire, pleaded hard for " rota- 
tion in office," and alleged that that was the " end 

« Felt. f Ibid. Bradford, Morton's Memorial. 

I Felt, vol. 1, p. 78. § Cited in Felt, ut antea. 

II " There were also this year some scattering beginnings made 
in other places, as at Piscataway, by Mr. David Thompson, who 
was sent over by Mason and Gorges, at Monhegin, and some other 
places by sundiy others." Bradford, p. 154. 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 209 

of annual elections." But the Pilgrims rightly re- 
garded him as a pivotal-man, and with rare good 
sense tliej reelected liiri;i unanimously.'^' When the 
election w^s over the "Little James" was well vict- 
ualed and despatched to the eastward on a j&shiug 
expedition. On reaching Damarin's cove " there 
arose such a violent and extraordinary storm that 
the seas broke over such places in the harbor as 
were deemed absolutely secure, and drove the vessel 
against great rocks, which beat a hole in her hulk 
that a horse and cart might have gone through, and 
afterwards drove her into deep water, where she 
sank. The master was drowned ; the rest of the 
men, except one, saved their lives with much ado ; 
and all the provisions, salt, tackle, and what else 
was in her, was lost."t Saddened by this mishap, 
but undismayed, the Pilgrims now commenced their 
preparations for planting. " A great part of liber- 
ty," says Seneca, " is a well-governed bellj^, and to 
be patient in all wants."| And Corbett, borrowing 
the same idea, put it into homely English by affirm- 
ing that " the stomach is the cause of civilization." 
He meant that hunger begets labor to satisfy its 
cravings. " Wants awaken intellect. To gratify 
them disciplines the mind. The keener the Avant, 
the lustier the growth. "§ 

The famine of the past had revealed to the Pil- 
grims the weakness and inefficiency of the com- 

^ Priuce, Bradford, Pilgrims' Journal. 

f Bradford, pp. 156, 157. t Seneca's Epis. 123. 

§ Phillips' Letters and Speeches, p. 372. 



210 THE PILGKIM FATHEKS. 

munal plan. It educated tliem; for on an indi- 
vidual basis tliey reaped plenty. They overcame 
hunger by patience. They flanked famine by a 
skilful social arrangement. Now, as before, each 
man broke ground for himself.* There was no 
longer an Elysium for sluggards; each reaped as 
he had sown. 

In March, 1624, Winslow returned to Plymouth, 
after an absence of eight months.f He brought 
with him three heifers and a bull — the first neat 
cattle that came into New England. | The ex- 
iles could no longer say, "We are without cattle, 
and we have no Egypt to go to for corn."§ Cattle 
they now had, and they created an Egypt. 

Winslow also brought some " clothing and other 
necessaries ; a carpenter, who died soon, but not 
until he had rendered himself very useful;" a" salt- 
man," who proved " an ignorant, foolish, self-willed 
fellow," and only made trouble and waste ; and " a 
preacher, though none of the most eminent and 
rare" — to whose transportation Cushman Avrote 
that he and Winslow had consented only " to give 
content to some in London. "|| Winslow informed 
his coadjutors of a sad "report that there was 
among the Merchant-adventurers a strong faction 
hostile to Plymouth, and especially set against the 
coming of the rest from Leyden"T[ — which explains 

« Prince, Bradford. t Morton's MemoriaL 

t Thatcher's Plymouth, p. 111. 

§ Morton's Memorial, p. 103. || Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 215. 

H Bradford, pp. 159, 160, 167. 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 211 

tlie long tany of Robinson and his flock in Hol- 
land. 

" It will be remembered," remarks Palfrey, " that 
the London adventurers were engaged i» a commer- 
cial speculation. Several of them sympathized more 
or less in religious sentiment with the Pilgrims ; but 
even with most of these considerations of pecuniary 
interest were paramount, and they were, besides, a 
minority when opposed to the aggregate of those 
adventurers who had no mind to interest themselves 
in religious dissensions to the damage of their pros- 
pect of gain. Under such circumstances, the policy 
of the English partners would naturally be to keep 
in favor with the court and with the council for New 
England, of which Sir Ferdinand Gorges and other 
churchmen were leaders. This it was that occa- 
sioned the thwarting embarrassments which were 
persistently interposed to frustrate Robinson's wish 
to collect his scattered flock in America. Neither 
the Virginia Company, nor the Merchant-adventur- 
ers as a body, would have preferred to employ Sep- 
aratists in founding American colonies, and giving 
value to their land. But the option was not theirs. 
At the moment, no others were disposed to con- 
front the anticipated hardships, and none could be 
relied upon like these to carry the business through. 
This was Avell understood on both sides to be the 
motive for the engagement that was made. 

" If Separatists were per force to undertake the 
enterprise, it was desirable that they should be per- 
sons not individually conspicuous, or obnoxious to 



212 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

clisj)leasiire in high quarters ; and when Brewster, 
and not Kobinson, accompanied the first settlers to 
New England, it w^as a result, if not due to the in- 
trigues of the Adventurers, certainly well according 
with their policy. Brewster was forgotten in Eng- 
land ; nor had he ever been known as a literary 
champion of his sect. The able and learned Rob- 
inson was the recognized head of the Indejxndents, 
a rising and militant power. He had an English, 
if indeed it may not be called a European reputa- 
tion. No name could have been uttered in courtly 
circles wdth worse omen to the new settlement. The 
case was still stronger when, having lost their way, 
and in consequence come to need another patent, the 
colony was made a dependency of the Council for 
New England, instead of the Virginia Company. 
In the Virginia Company, laboring under the dis- 
pleasure of the king, and having Sandys and Wri- 
othesley for its leaders, there was a leaven of pop- 
ular sentiment. The element of absolutism and 
prelacy was more controlling in the councils of the 
rival corporation. 

"From these circumstances the quick instinct 
of trade took its lesson. To the favor of the Coun- 
cil for New England, with Sir Ferdinand Gorges at 
its head, and the king taking its part against Sir 
Edward Coke and the House of Commons, the 
Merchant-adventurers were looking for benefits 
which some of them had no mind to hazard by en- 
couraging their colony to exhale any offensive odor 
of schism. This gives us an insight into the policy 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 213 

of that action to which Eobinson referred when, in 
a letter to Brewster, now brought bj Winslow, he 
Avrote : ' I persuade myself that for me, they of all 
others are unwilling I should be transported, espe- 
cially such of them as have an eye that way them- 
selves, as thinking if I come there their market will 
be marred. And for these Adventurers, if they have 
but half the wit to their malice, they will stop my 
course when they see it intended.' 

" In these circumstances, also, we find an expla- 
nation of the selection of a minister ' not the most 
eminent and rare,' and such as Cushman and Wins- 
low could agree to take only ' to give content to 
some in London.' To send a clergyman avowedly 
of the state church was a course not to be thought 
of. The colonists could not be expected to receive 
him. The best method for their purpose was, to 
employ some one of a character and position suited 
to get possession of their confidence, and then use 
it to tone down their religious strictness, and, if cir- 
cumstances should favor, to disturb the ecclesias- 
tical constitution which they had set up. 

" As the financial prospects of the colony faded, 
the more anxious were the unsympathizing London 
partners to relieve it and themselves from the stig- 
ma of religious schism. The taunt that their colo- 
nists were Brownists depressed the value of their 
stock. It was for their interest to introduce settlers 
of a different religious character, and to take the 
local power, if possible, out of the hands of those 
who represented the obnoxious tenets. To this 



214 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

end it was tlieir policy to encourage such internal 
disaffection as already existed, and to strengthen it 
by the infusion of new elements of discord. A part 
even of the 'Mayflower' emigrants, without reli- 
gious sympathy with their superiors, and jealous of 
the needful exercise of authority, were fit subjects 
for an influence adverse to the existing organization. 
The miscellaneous importation in the 'Fortune' 
followed ; and the whole tenor of the discourse of 
Cushman, who came out and returned in her, shows 
that there were ' idle drones ' and ' unreasonable 
men' mixed with the nobler associates of the infant 
settlement. The 'Anne' and her partner, the last 
vessels despatched by the Adventurers, brought 
new fuel for dissension in those of that company 
who came ' on their particular ' account. Nor does 
it seem hazardous to infer, alike from the circum- 
stances of the case and from developments which 
speedily followed, that some of these persons, in 
concert with the ' strong faction among the Adven- 
turers,' came over on the errand of subverting the 
existing government and order."* 

The clergyman now sent over, and mentioned 
in the home-letters, was John Lyford. He was the 
seed of many and sad disturbances. " When he 
first came ashore," says Bradford, "he saluted the 
colonists with such reverence and humility as is 
seldom seen, and indeed made them ashamed, he 
so bowed and cringed unto them ; he would have 
kissed their hands, if they had suffered it. Yet all 
« Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 216-219. 



\ 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 215 

the while, if we may judge by his after- carriage, he 
was but hke him mentioned by the psahnist,^ that 
croucheth and boweth that heaps of poor may fall 
by his might. Or like that dissembling Ishmaelf 
who, when he had slain Gedeliah, went out weep- 
ing, and met them that were coming to offer in- 
cense in the house of the Lord, saying, ' Come to 
Gedeliah,' when he meant to slay them.":}: 

The Pilgrims received Lyford cordially, giving 
him the warmest of welcomes and the heartiest, 
A larger allowance out of the general store was 
allotted him than any other had ; and as the gov- 
ernor was wont, " in all weighty affairs, to consult 
with Elder Brewster as well as with his special 
assistants, so now, froin courtesy, he called Lyford 
also to advise in all important crises."§ 

Ere long he professed to desire to unite with 
the Pilgrim church. He was accordingly received, 
and " made a large confession of his faith, and an 
acknowledgment of his former disorderly walking 
and entanglement with many corruptions, which 
had been a burden to his conscience ; so that he 
blesse.d God for this opportunity of liberty to 
enjoy the ordinances of God in j)urity among His 
people."!! 

For a time all things went comfortably and 
smoothly ; but in this calm, Lyford contracted an 
intimacy with one John Oldham, who had come out 
in the "Anne" on his own account, and had been a 

* Psalm 10 : 10. f Jeremiah 41 : 6. 

X Bradford, p. 171. § Ibid. || Ibid., p. 172. 



216 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

factious bawler from the outset.* From so con- 
genial an association, evil could not but be begot- 
ten. The bully and the hypocrite soon nursed it 
and set it afoot. Both Oldham and Lyford grew 
very perverse — though just before Oldham also 
had been received as a member of the Plymouth 
church, "whether from hj'pocrisy or out of some 
sudden pang of conviction God only knows" — and 
" showed a spirit of great malignancy, drawing as 
many into faction as they could influence. The 
most idle and profane they nourished, and backed 
in all their lawlessness, so they would but cleave 
to them and revile the Pilgrim church. Private 
meetings and back-stair whisperings were incessant 
among them, they feeding themselves and others 
with what they should bring to pass in England by 
the faction of their fi-iends among the Adventurers, 
which brought both themselves and their dupes 
into a fools' paradise. Outwardly they set a fair 
face on things, yet they could not carry things so 
closely but much both of their sayings and doings 
was discovered."t 

Finally, when the vessel in which Winslow had 
returned was laden, and ready to hoist anchor 
and spread sail for home, it was observed that Ly- 
ford and his coadjutors " were long in writing and 
sent many letters, and communicated to each other 
such things as made them laugh in their sleeves, 
thinking they had done their errand efficiently."! 

* Bradford, p. 172. Morton's Memorial, p. 112. f Ibid. 
X Bradford, p. 173. 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 217 

Scenting miscliief, Bradford watched them close- 
ly ; and when the ship left the harbor, he followed 
her in the shallop, and demanded Lyford's letter- 
bag. The captain, who was friendly to the colonial 
government, and cognizant of the plot afoot, both 
in Britain and at Plymouth, to overreach the Pil- 
grims, at once acceded. Above twenty letters, many 
of them long, and pregnant with slanders, false ac- 
cusations, and malicious inuendoes, tending not only 
to the prejudice, but the ruin and utter subversion 
of the settlement, were found. Most of these Brad- 
ford let pass, contenting himself with abstracts. 
But of the most material true copies were taken, 
and then forwarded, the originals being detained, 
lest their writer should deny his work, in which case 
he would now be compelled to eat his own penman- 
ship.* 

The ship had sailed towards evening ; in the 
night the governor returned. Lyford and his fac- 
tion " looked blank when they saw Bradford land ; 
but after some weeks, as nothing came of it, they 
were as brisk as ever, thinking that all was un- 
known and was gone current, and that the shallop 
went but to despatch some well-nigh forgotten or 
belated letters. The reason why Bradford and the 
rest concealed their knowledge was, to let aifairs 
drift to a natural development, and ripen, that they 
might the better discover the intentions of the mal- 
contents, and see who were their adherents. And 
they did this the rather, because they had learned 

« Bradford, p. 173. 
10 



218 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

from a letter written by one of tlie confederates, 
that Oldham and Lyford intended an immediate 
reformation of the church and commonwealth, and 
proposed at once, on the departure of the ship, to 
unite their forces, and set up a worship on the Eng- 
lish model."" 

The Pilgrims had not long to wait. Oldham, 
with the natural instinct of a bully, picked constant 
quarrels, refused to mount guard, and pelted Stan- 
dish with vile epithets. Lyford, a more cautious 
knave, had no heart for fisticuffs, but he set up an- 
other worship on the Sabbath, and openly celebra- 
ted sacrameutst which were to the Pilgrims instinct 
with vicious tyranny and idolatrous significance; 
and to escape from which, they had crossed the 
channel into Holland, and plunged across the At- 
lantic into the winter wilderness. 

The colonists at once acted. Oldham was tamed. 
" After being clapped up awhile, he came to him- 
self." Lyford was formally impeached. A court 
was convened, and the settlers at large were sum- 
moned to attend. Bradford himself conducted the 
prosecution in this primitive trial. He said that, 
" being greatly oppressed in Britain, the Pilgrims 
had come to America, here to enjoy liberty of con- 
science; and for that they had passed through 
frightful hardships, and planted this settlement on 
the sterile rocks. The danger and the charge ol 
the beginning were theirs. Lyford had been sent 
over at the general expense, and both himself and 

'-■ P.raaford, p. 175. t rijitl. 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLI). 219 

liis large family^^ liad been maintained from the 
common store. He liad joined their cliurcli, and 
become one of tliemselves; and for liim to plot the 
ruin of his entertainers was most unjust and perfid- 
ious. As for Oldham and his crew, who came at 
their own charge and for their particular benefit, 
seeing they were received in courtesy by the plan- 
tation, when they came only to seek shelter and 
protection under its wings, not being able to stand 
alone, they were like the fable of the hedgehog 
whom the cony, in a stormy day, fi'om pity wel- 
comed into her burrow; but who, not content to 
take part with her, in the end, with her sharp 
pricks forced the poor cony to forsake her own 
burrow, as these do now attempt to do with us."t 

Here Lyford denied that he had been guilty of 
any wrong. Bradford at once "put in" his inter- 
cepted letters as evidence. The unmasked hypo- 
crite was dumb. But Oldham, mad with rage, at- 
tempted to rouse an emeute on the spot.| No hand 
was uplifted at his appeal, and Bradford caused 
the whole parcel of letters to be read ; after which, 
resuming his speech, he reminded Lyford of his 
humble confession on being received into the church, 
of his solemn promise not to attempt to perform 
the functions of a clergyman until he had another 
call to that sacred office ; in open violation of which, 
he had assumed the clerical garb, in virtue of his 

- He had a wife and four children. Bradford, p. 175, editor's 
note. 

t Ibid, pp. 175, 176. t Ibid. 



220 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

ordination, drawn aside a small clique, and by 
attempting to officiate at the Lord's table on the 
Sabbath, broken his solemn pledge and disturbed 
the public peace.* 

» The proof was so patent, the falsehoods which 
impregnated the insolent letters were so bold, that 
the factionists were absolutely dumb. No voice 
was raised in extenuation of the roguery. Convic- 
tion was speedy. Oldham and Lyford were both 
sentenced to banishment.f 

Oldham at once left Plymouth, and repaired to 
Nantasket, wdiere the Pilgrims had a station to ac- 
commodate the Indian trade.]: But Lyford, as weak 
as he was vicious, burst into tears, and " confessed 
that he feared he was a reprobate, with sins too 
heavy for God to pardon ;" and he promised amend- 
ment with such emphasis, and pleaded so piteously 
for forgiveness, that the kind and merciful settlers 
consented to keep him on probation for six montlis.§ 

But he was an ingrained knave, and amendment 
was not in him. Not long after this scene, he wrote 
a second letter to the Merchant -adventurers, in 
which he justified all his former charges, and elab- 
orated them. Unhappily for him, the messenger to 
whom he intrusted this precious missive surren- 
dered it into the hands of Bradford, who simply 
.filed it for the present, and let his just wrath accu- 
imulate.ll 

-» Bradford, pp. 175, 176. f Ibid., p. 182. 

i Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 221, note. Morton's Memorial, p. 117, 
note. ^ Ibid. || Bradford. 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 221 

In the mean time the ship, with Lyford's batch 
of letters aboard, dropped anchor in the Thames. 
The lies of their masqvieradiug agent were eagerly 
conned by the London partners. A conclave was 
held. The inimical adventurers pointed triumph- 
antly to Lyford's testimony. But, fortunately for 
the Pilgrims, Winslow, who had returned to Lon- 
don, had become acquainted with certain disrep- 
utable and damning facts in Lyford's home-ca- 
reer, both in England and in Ireland, where he 
had officiated as pastor, which proved him to be a 
lecher and a swindler, who soiled the surplice and 
the cope. With these facts, and followed by grave 
and unimpeachable witnesses, Winslow hurried into 
the room where the merchants were assembled, and 
made his expose, which "struck Lyford's friends with 
sadden dumbness, and made them shame greatly."* 

But these reports, together with their disap- 
pointment in not harvesting an immediate fortune, 
imjoelled two thirds of the original members of the 
London Company to withdraw from the venture; 
" and as there had been a faction and siding amongst 
them for two years, so now there was an utter breach 
and sequestration."! 

Some of the partners, however, remained friend- 
ly; and these, assuming the debt of the colony — 
amounting to some fourteen hundred pounds ster- 
ling — fitted out a ship for another voyage, wrote in 
terms of comfort and cheer, and sent out cattle, 

• Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 221. 

t Winslow, quoted in Palfrey, nt antea. 



222 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

tools and clotliing, whicli they sold to tlie planters, 
despite their friendly professions, at an exorbitant 
advance on the market value." 

In the spring of 1625, Winslow came back with 
this ship thus freighted ; and he brought with him 
besides, the news of the disaffection among the 
Merchant-adventurers. On landing, he was the 
surprised witness of a strange ceremony. In the 
village street was drawn up a guard of musketeers 
in two files, between which a man was running. As 
he passed, each soldier gave him a thump behind 
Avith the but of his musket.f This was called "run- 
ning the gauntlet," and was a custom borrowed 
from the Indians. So engrossed were the settlers 
in this odd sport, and so convulsed were the sober- 
est of them with laughter at the victim's odd grim- 
aces on being struck and bidden " mend his man- 
ners," that Winslow advanced quite up to the crowd 
ere he was discovered and recognized. He then 
learned that the sufferer of this singular punish- 
ment was Oldham, who, despite his banishment, 
had ventured to return to Plymouth and revile his 
judges, t 

Winslow at once informed the clustering colo- 
nists of the effect of Lyford's letters in England, 
and repeated his expose of that bad man's abhorrent 
private cliaracter.§ The Pilgrims were not sur- 
prised. Lyford's own wife, " a grave matron of 
good carriage," had herself, in the sorrow of her 

* Thatcher, Prince, Palfrey, Eradford. f Bradford, p. 190. 
X Ibid., p. 192. Morton's Memorial, p. 120. ^ Ibid. 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPEOLD. 223 

lieart, disclosed some secrets and uncloaked some 
crimes which led them to believe Lyford capable 
of perpetrating any yillany.* 

Now, since his probationary time had expired, 
and he was a more dangerous rascal than before, 
he was ordered to quit the colony. This he did, 
joining Oldham at Nantucket; whence, a little later, 
he wandered into Virginia, dying there very miser- 
ably, t 

Eventually Oldham repented of his evil conduct, 
and became reconciled to the Pilgrims ; " so that 
he had liberty to come and go, and converse with 
them at pleasure," until, some years later, the In- 
dians, in a petty quarrel, knocked his brains out 
with a tomahawk. + 

Thus ended the " Lyford troubles." Led by 
God, the Plymouth colonists safely surmounted one 
more obstacle, the insidious assault of masquera- 
ders who " stole the livei-y of heaven to serve the 
devil in." 

The winter of 1624-5 had passed without any 
special occurrence save this Lyford affair ; and 
here see one strange thing: "Many who before 
stood something off from the church," says Brad- 
ford, " noAV, seeing Lyford's unrighteous dealing 
and malignity against it, came forward and ten- 
dered themselves as members, professing that it 
was not out of any dislike of any thing that they 
had stood so long aloof, but from a desire to fit 

* Bradford, p. 192. Morton's Memorial, p. 120. f Ibid, 
t Cliiever's Journal, p. 327. Morton's Memorial. 



224 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

themselves better for such a connection, and that 
now they saw that the Lord called for their help. 
So that Lyford's crusade had quite a contrary effect 
from that hoped ; which was looked at as a great 
work of God, who drew men on by unlikely means, 
and by occurrences which might rather have set 
them farther off."- 

Lyford had complained to the Merchant-adven- 
turers that the Pilgrims had no regularly ordained 
minister. To this charge Bradford made a fine 
retort : " We answer, the more is our wrong, that 
our pastor is kept from us by these men's means, 
who then reproach us for it. Yet have we not been 
wholly destitute of the means of salvation, as this 
man w^ould have the world believe; for our rever- 
end elder, Mr. Brewster, hath labored diligently in 
dispensing the word of God unto us ; and, be it 
spoken without ostentation, he is not inferior to 
Mr. Lyford — and some of his betters — either in gifts 
or learning, though he Avould never be persuaded 
to take higher office upon himself."t 

Brewster taught twice every Sabbath powerfully 
and profitably, and without stipend, Avhich he stead- 
ily declined, working for his bread with his own 
hands, and earning it in tlie sweat of his brows, 
thus approximating to the early Christian practice. 
" He did more in one year," asserts old John Cot- 
ton, " than many who have their hundreds per an- 
num do in all their lives." So it seems that there 
is one brilliant exception to the Indian maxim, 
• Bradford, p. 189. f Ibid., p. 188. 



WOLVES IN THE SHEEPFOLD. 225 

" Poor pay poor preach." The good elder had a 
singular gift in prayer, "yet was seldom word}'- or 
prolix." Without the afflatus of ordination, he was 
so much better than most ministers with it, that, 
though destitute of " consecrated ministrations," 
the colonists did not suffer much, and mainly re- 
gretted the absence of sacraments, which Brewster, 
unordained, was not competent to celebrate.* 

Prince gives a summary of the religious tenets of 
the Plymouth church : 

I. " It held that nothing is to be accounted true 
religion but what is taught in the Holy Scri]3tures." 

II. " It held that every man has the right of 
private judgment, of testing his belief by the sacred 
writ, and of worshipping God in his own way as 
that text directed."! 

On this doctrine the Pilgrims thrived. " Brown 
bread and the gospel is good fare," they said to one 
another.:}: Indeed it was; and there on the deso- 
late coast, where wheat froze and the bitter winter 
congealed six months of the twelve, men grew. 
"At last," says Elliott, "in the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, we see a church with no priest, 
with no hierarchy, with no forms ; none like it since 
that at Corinth ; none so entirely free to work out its 
ideas into life and action. It was a religious democ- 
racy. Its doctrines and practices were the outcome 

* Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 119, 120. 

f Ibid., p. 116. Prince's Chronology. Thatcher's Plymouth, 
t A Brief Review of the Else and Progress of New England- 
London, 1774. 

10* 



226 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

of the time, and were decided on by the votes of the 
members as men. In theory, the majority ruled in 
the Plymouth church. 'T is a noticeable thing in 
human history, and it has had its influence in both 
church and state. The day had come when a few 
brave men could take this step in advance towards 
freedom, and not be swallowed up and lost. The 
day had come when democracy was possible in the 
church, foretelling its speedy coming in the state."* 

* Elliot, vol. 1, p. 135. 



SAD NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 227 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SAD NEWS FKOll ENGLAND. 

"Tliou kuow'st 'tis common ; all that live must die. 
Passing through nature to eternity." 

Shakspeaee's Hamlet. 

The Pilgi-ims were fretted by the unsatisfactory 
and clogging conditions of their compact with the 
London partners. Their prosperity was perpetu- 
ally menaced by the factions and the chicanery of 
a herd of merchants whose only god was mammon, 
and who cared nothing for justice and sober living 
and their jolighted word, if only they might make 
their heaps high and massy. 

Early in 1625, the colonists determined to ini- 
tiate measures which should look to their disen- 
thralment, and whose result should be to give them 
in fee simple those lands which their patient skill 
had wrung from the sturdy hand of unwilling and 
churlish nature. Standish was commissioned to go 
to England, and open negotiations with the Mer- 
chant-adventurers.* 

Two ships, which had come out on a trading 
voyage, were now about to sail for home. In the 
larger of these the redoubtable captain embarked. 
" Being both well laden, they went joyfully home 

* Morton, Prince, Hazard, Bradford, Thatcher, Banvard. 



228 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

together, the greater towiDg the lesser at her stern 
all the wa}^ over. And they had sncli fair weather, 
that they never once cast off till both were shot 
deep into the English channel. Yet there the little 
vessel was unhappily seized by a Turkish rover, and 
carried into Sallee, where master and crew were 
made slaves ; and her cargo of beaver-skins was 
sold at sixpence a piece. Thus were their hopes 
dashed, and the joyful news they meant to carry 
home was turned to heavy tidings."'^'" 

Fortunately for Standish, the Turk was satisfied 
with the morsel he had already gotten into his 
capacious maAv, and did not pursue the bigger ship ; 
so that he escaped a life of Eastern servitude, and 
safely reached the English soil. Wasting no time, 
he hastened to meet the London partners; and so 
skilful was his diplomacy, that he made arrange- 
ments for the gradual absorption of the Plymouth 
debt by the settlers, " taking up a hundred and fifty 
pounds of it on the spot, though at fifty per cent. 
interest, which he bestowed in trading and in the 
purchase of such commodities as he knew to be 
requisite for colonial use."t 

In the spring of 1626, he returned to Pl^^mouth,:]: 
bringing with him the mournful intelligence of the 
death of Cushman in England and of Robinson in 
Leyden,§ a double bereavement to the Pilgrim pio- 
neers. 

The loss of no other two men could have dealt 

« Bradford, pp. 202, 203. f Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 224. 

t Hazard, Bradford, Palfrey. § Ibid. 



SAD NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 229 

SO stunning a blow to the infant settlement. Plym- 
outh was almost buffeted from its feet. The loss 
seemed irreiDarable to human eyes; but God, who 
uses his servants, delights to show the world that 
they are not indispensable to him. Cushman had 
been " as their right hand to the Pilgrims, and for 
divers years had done and agitated all their busi- 
ness with the Adventurers, to the great advantage 
of his friends."* 

But Robinson was mourned with a peculiar sor- 
row. Attached to their great teacher by the ten- 
derest personal ties, by many favors rendered and 
received, by marriage vows plighted at his altar, 
by mutual perils undergone for a common faith, 
by expectation of his arrival and reunion on the 
bleak New England strand, is it strange that Plym- 
outh at large wept sore for him, and plucked its 
beard ? 

" Bobinson's powerful ascendency over the minds 
of his associates, acquired by eminent talents and 
virtues, had been used disinterestedly and wisely 
for the common good. With great courage and 
fortitude, he had equal gentleness and liberality ; 
and his intellectual accomplishments and the gen- 
erosity of his affections inspired mingled love and 
admiration. Though he passed his life in the midst 
of controversy, it was so far from narrowing his 
mind, that his charity towards dissenters distin- 
guished him among the divines of his day as much 
as his abilities and learning, while his broad and 

-"■ Bradford, p. 207. 



230 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

tolerant views continued to ripen and expand as 
he grew towards age,"* and bloomed into the 
grave. 

In especial he won the benediction of the seA'- 
enth beatitude ; for he was famous as a peace- 
maker, and there are many instances of reconcilia- 
tion between those at variance effected by his fine 
Christian tact.t 

" He fell sick Saturday morning, February 22, 
1625. Next day he taught twice ; but in the week, 
grew feebler every day, and quit this life on the 1st 
of March. All his friends came freely to him ; and 
if prayers, tears, or means, could have saved his life, 
he had not gone hence.":}: 

He died in his fifty-first year, " even as fruit fall- 
eth before it is ripe, when neither length of days 
nor infirmity of body did seem to call for his end."§ 
The discarded flesh-tabernacle was laid to rest in 
the chancel of one of the churches at Leyden,|| 
allotted by the Dutch for the use of the English 
exiles ; and the magistrates, ministers, professors, 
and students, followed him to the grave.l" 

Eobinson was the Moses of the Pilgrims, and 
like his prototj'pe, he looked into the promised land 
from the top of Pisgah, but he did not enter it. In- 
trigue balked him of that felicity, and " hope de- 

« Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 225. f Banvard, p. 151. 

J Elliot's Biog. Diet. § Yoiang's Chronicles, p. 481. 

II "It is not certain where he lies buried; George Sumner 
thinks in St. Peter's church, Leyden." Elliot, Hist. New Eng., 
vol. 1, p. 125, note. 

T Stoughton, Heroes of Puritan Times, p. 102. 



SAD NEWS FEOM ENGLAND. 231 

ferred made his heart sick." But ideas cannot be 
barred out. His entered the wilderness, and ger- 
minated democracy and the representative system. 
"His truth, planted at Plymouth, has blossomed 
on the rocky shores, in the sheltered valleys, and 
on the breezy hills of New England, and borne a 
grand harvest." 



232 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

CHAPTEK XIX. 

PROGRESS. 

"And when our cluliTren turn the page 
To ask what triumphs marked our age — 
What we achieved to challenge praise. 
Through the long line of future days — 
This let them read, and hence instruction draw : 
' Here were the many blest, 
Here found the virtues rest, 
Faith linlied with Love, and Liberty with Law.' " 

Sprague's Centennial Ode. 

The progress of population at Plymouth was 
slow for a decade. The lands in the vicinity were 
not fertile. Still the plantation had struck deep 
root and was bound to spring up and bear a hun- 
dred fold.* If the colonial prosjjerity Avas not im- 
posing, it was thriving. A little earlier than this 
Smith learned in Virginia that there were on this 
New England slope " about a hundred and eighty 
persons; some cattle and goats; many swine and a 
good store of poultry ; and thirty-two ' dwelling- 
houses; forming a town which was impaled about 
half a mile's compass, with a fort built of wood, 
loam, and stone ; also a fair watch-tower ; and able 
to freight a ship of a hundred and eighty tons bur- 
den."t 

Fifty ships were on the coast engaged in fishing, 
every one of which was an enlargement of their 
• Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 321. f Smith's General History, p. 247. 



PEOGRESS. 233 

market for the sale and purchase of essential com- 
modities.* 

" It pleased the Lord," says Bradford, " to give 
the plantation peace, and health, and contented 
minds, and so bless the labors of the colonists that 
they had provisions in plenty, and to spare; and this 
without receiving any food from home at any time, 
except what they brought out in the Mayflower."t 

Owing to the competition in the fishing-waters, 
the Pilgrims esteemed it wiser now to forego that 
pursuit and to turn their whole attention to " trading 
and planting." " To every j)erson," says Bradford, 
" was given an acre of land, and only an acre to them 
and theirs, as near the town as might be, and they had 
no more till the contract with the London partners 
was bought up. The reason was, that all might be 
kept close together both for better safety and defence, 
and the better improvement of the common employ- 
ments. This condition of theirs did make me think 
of what I once read in Pliny:}: of the Bomans and 
their beginnings in Bomulus' time, when every man 
contented himself with two acres of land and had 
no more assigned him ; how it was thought a great 
reward to receive a pint of corn at the hands of the 
Roman people ; how, long after, the greatest pres- 
ent given to a captain who had gotten them a vic- 
tory over their enemies, was as much ground as lie 
could till in one day ; he being counted not a good 
but a dangerous man, who could not content him- 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 221, 222. t Bradford, p. 204. 

t Pliny, lib. 18, chap. 2. 



234 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

self with seven acres of land ; as also how they did 
pound their corn in mortars, as these colonists did 
many years before they could get a mill."- 

In turning from fishing to agriculture the set- 
tlers were decided gainers, and "ere the close of the 
year 1626 they had nearly extricated themselves 
from debt, including the obligation lately incurred 
for them by Standish, and had besides stored ' some 
clothing for the people and some commodities be- 
forehand.' "t 

The winter of 1626-7 was given to trading, and 
purchases were made of merchandise from some 
Englishmen stationed at Monhegan, and from a 
French ship wrecked off their coast. For several 
months they had the society of the passengers and 
crew of a vessel bound to Virginia, but which, losing 
her reckoning, and falling short of provisions, had 
moored under Cape Cod and sent to them for succor.J 

Just before winter closed in the Pilgrims had 
despatched one of their number, Mr. Allerton, to 
England with authority to continue the negotiations 
for a transfer of title ojiened by Standish with the 
Merchant-adventurers.§ Allerton found the plague 
— Avhich had somewhat retarded the movements of 
Standish, and carried off some of the most efficient 
supporters of the colonyll — quite abated. He also 
learned that James I., the pedantic bigot who had 
threatened to " harry" the Puritans out of England, 

* Bradford, p. 168. f Piilfrey, vol. 1, p. 225. 

X Ibid. § Bradford, Morton's Memorial. 

II Felt, Hist. New England, vol. 1, p. 91. 



PKOGKESS. 235 

was dead, and that lie had been succeeded hj his 
son Charles I., the fated prince who afterwards fell 
under Cromwell's axe on the Whitehall scaffold. 

The Plymouth agent was successful, though "the 
curse of usurj-, which always falls so heavily upon 
new settlements, did not spare" the Pilgrims, since 
they were compelled to borrow money at an exor- 
bitant interest. Allerton had carried out nine bonds, 
each for two hundred pounds — eighteen hundred 
pounds being the price at which the partnership 
held their mortgage. These bonds were given by 
eight of the most prominent Pilgrims," and were 
made payable in nine equal annual instalments, 
commencing in 1627. t Thus it was that a bevy of 
patriotic colonists purchased the rights and assumed 
the responsibilities of the " Company of Merchant- 
adventurers." They were known in the phrase of 
that day as " The .Undertakers," and they emanci- 
pated PljTuouth from its harassing thraldom to a 
greedy horde of money-changers. 

The Pilgrims were much gratified by this success, 
though they knew that their undertaking was not 
without grave hazard. " They knew not well," re- 
marks Bradford, " how to raise this yearly payment, 
besides discharging their other engagements and 
supplying their annual wants, especially since they 
were forced by necessity to take up money at such 
high interest. Yet they undertook it.":j: 

* These were Bradford, Brewster, Standish, Allerton, Fuller, 
Jeremy, Alden, Howland. Prince, Bradford, Hazard, etc. 
t Bradford, pp, 212, 213, Palfrey, t Ibid,, p, 214. 



233 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

Of course, this purchase of the right of the home 
company necessitated a new organization, and a 
redistribution of property at Plymouth. After ma- 
ture dehberation, it was decided to erect a common- 
wealth, in which each settler should own a share, 
but under an agreement that trade should be man- 
aged as before until the total discharge of the debt 
incurred for liberty.'^ 

The division was at once made of the stock and 
land heretofore the joint estate of the adventurers 
and their partners in the soil. Every man had a 
share ; and " every father of a family was allowed to 
purchase one share for his wife and one for each child 
living with him."t One cow and two goats were 
assigned by lot to every six shareholders, " and 
swine, though more in number, jet by the same 
rule." In addition to the land which each already 
held, " every person had twenty acres allotted him ; 
but no meadows were to be laid out ; nor were they 
for many years after, because they were straitened 
for meadow land. Every season each was given a 
certain spot to mow in proportion to the cattle 
owned.":j; The houses became the j)rivate property 
of their respective tenants by an equitable assign- 
ment,§ and henceforward there were to be New 
England freeholders. The vassalage to foreign mer- 
chants was ended. li 

It should not be forgotten that in the allotment 
of land, there was a grant to the Indian Habbamak. 

Bradford, p. 214. f Ibid., jx 214. Morton's Memorial. 

1 Ibid. § Ibid. || Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 229. 



PEOGEESS. 237 

He held by the Pilgrims and by their God, spite of 
enticements and obstacles, and died " leaving some 
good hopes in the settlers' hearts that his soul had 
gone to rest."* 

" The first coveted luxury of the emancipated 
plantation was a reunion with their long-detained 
comrades in Holland. Hitherto the pleasure of 
others might decide who should join them. That 
embarrassment was now happily withdrawn. Their 
tender mutual recollections had naturally been re- 
freshed by the common moaning for their ' loving 
and faithful pastor;' " so now "the Plymouth gov- 
ernor and some of his chiefest friends had serious 
consideration, not only how they might discharge 
the engagements which lay so heavily upon them, 
but also how they might — if possibly they could — 
devise means to help their friends at Leyden over 
to them, these desiring to come as heartily as they 
to have them. To effect this they resolved to run 
a high course and of great venture, not knowing 
otherwise how to compass it ; which Avas, to hire the 
trade of the colony for six years, and in that time 
to undertake the liquidation of the whole impend- 
ing debt, so that when the specified time was ended 
the plantation should be set free, with freedom of 
trade to the generality."! 

Allerton was again sent to England with full 

power " under the hand and seal" of the Undertakers, 

to close the old bargain and to negotiate "with some 

of the special friends of the colony to join with 

« Elliot, vol. 1, p. 85. t Bradford, p. 226. 



238 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

them* in this tracle."t The mission was promptly 
completed. In the spring of 1628, Allerton returned, 
" bringing a reasonable supply of goods." He "re- 
ported that he had paid the first instalment to the 
Adventurers, delivered the bonds for the residue of 
the debt, and obtained the due conveyance and re- 
lease ; also that he had engaged a quartette of 
friends:}: to accept an interest in the six years' hire 
of the colonial trade, in return for which they had 
agreed to charge themselves with the transporta- 
tion of the Leyden congregation. Lastly, he had 
obtained from the New England Council a patent 
for land on the Kennebec, which was at once 
turned to account by the erection of a block-house 
"in that river, in the most convenient place for 
Indian trade" and a traffic with the Maine fisher- 
men. § 

At this same time Allerton brought out with him 
a young minister named Rogers, the first, save Ly- 
ford, if we may dignify him by that name, possessed 
by the Plymouth Pilgrims.ll But he proved only a 
vexation and an expense; for, being "crazed in the 
brain," he was sent back to Britain ere a twelve- 

* The names of the formers of the trade were : Bradford, 
Brewster, Standish, Prince, Alden, Rowland, and Allerton. Prince 
had come out in the "Fortune," all the rest in the "Maj'flower." 
Palfrey. 

f Hazard, Prince, Cheever's Journal, Thatcher. 

X These were James Shirley — -who became their English agent — 
John Beauchamp, Richard Andrews, and T. Hathaway — " the glue 
of the old company." Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. 3, p. 34. 

;, Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 230. 

II Thatcher, Prince, Morton's Memorial. 



PROOEESS. 239 

montli liad elapsed, and the plantation liad recourse 
once more to stout old Brewster." 

By this time the charge of Brownism and big- 
oted exclusiveness, so often levelled at the Pilgrims, 
was well nigh laid in England. Hard-fisted facts had 
smitten that slander so often in the face that it lost 
its hardihood. Indeed, remembering the character 
of that age, the Plymouth church was singularly 
catholic. Winslow cites many instances of the ad- 
mission to its communion of communicants of the 
French, the Dutch, and the Scotch churches, merely 
by virtue of their being so.f He says : " We ever 
placed a wide diiference betwixt those who grounded 
their practice on the word of God, though differing 
from us in their exposition and understanding of it, 
and those who hate reformers and reformation, run- 
ning into anti-Christian opposition and persecution 
of the truth." He adds : " 'Tis true, we profess and 
desire to practise sejjaration from the world; and as 
the churches of Christ are all saints by calling, so 
we desire to see the grace of God shining forth — 
at least seemingly, leaving secret things to God — in 
all whom we admit to church-fellowship, and to 
keep off such as openly wallow in the mire of their 
sins, that neither the holy things of God, nor the 
communion of saints, may be leavened or polluted 
thereby. And if any joining us, either formerly at 
Leyden, or since our New England residence, have 
with the manifestation of faith and the profession 

* Cheever's Journal. Bradford, p. 243. 
t Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 62. 



210 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

of holiness, held forth therewith separation from the 
church of England, I have divers times, both in the 
one place and in the other, heard either Mr. Rob- 
inson, our pastor, or Mr. Brewster, our elder, stop 
them forthwith, showing them that we required no 
such thing at their hands ; but only to hold forth 
Christ Jesus, holiness in the fear of God, and a sub- 
mission to the Scripture ordinances and appoint- 
ments."* 

Such were the simple tenets of the Plymouth 
church under the instructions of Brewster — change 
of heart and a life regulated by the sacred writ the 
only tests. 

And now the Pilgrim enterprise began to take a 
wide range ; they had already acquired rights on 
Cape Ann, as well as an extensive domain on the 
Kennebec, now covered by patent ; and they were 
the first to plant an English settlement on the 
banks of the silvery Connecticut. t All around them 
the lusty shouts of the pioneers were heard. They 
no longer stood alone on the verge of the unbroken 
and primeval forest. Civilization, pushing restlessly 
towards the setting sun, began to supplement this 
nucleus colony. English planters were already 
seated at Saco and at Sagadahoc, in Maine. J The 
red men who haunted the coast line of Massachu- 
setts Bay, were pushed from their marshy hunting- 
grounds by the Puritan colonists who followed En- 

« Cited in Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, jip. 62, G3. 

t Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 321. 

X Felt's Hist, of New England, vol. 1, p. 95. 



PEOGEESS. 241 

dicott into the wilderness. And in the west, the 
patient, phlegmatic Dutch, " without haste, without 
rest," had founded New Amsterdam on the island 
of Manhattan, a town which bathed its feet in the 
waters of old Hendrick Hudson's majestic river, and 
which has since expanded to be the metropolis of 
North America.* 

No occasion, now, to complain of a lack of com- 
pan3^ With all the settlements amicable and cor- 
dial relations were cemented by the Pilgrim Fathers 
of Plymouth. With the Dutch planters, especially, 
a correspondence was had, by means of which mu- 
tually kind wishes and commercial offices were in- 
terchanged.t In 1627, Isaac de Rasieres, " a chief 
merchant at New Amsterdam, and second to the 
Dutch governor of the New Netherlands," visited 
Plymouth, where he tarried " some days," and re- 
ceived friendly entertainment.:]: A neighborly busi- 
ness intercourse was commenced, and it was at this 
time that the Pilgrims became acquainted with the 
value and the uses of luampum.^ This was the In- 
dian coin — the dollars and cents of barbarism. It 

* "The Dutch had trading in those southern parts divers years 
before the English came, but they began no plantation until after 
the Pilgrims came and were here seated." Morton's Memorial, 
p. 133, note. 

t Davis' New Amsterdam, Booth's History of New York City, 
Bradford. { Bradford, p. 222, et seq. 

§ In Roger Williams' Key, wampum is considered as Indian 
money, and is described in the twenty-fourth chapter of that in- 
teresting tract. Their while money they called wampum, which 
signifies while; their hlack, suckawhack, sucki signifying black. 
Hist. Col., vol. 3, p. 231. 

Pllsrlin Pathe™. 11 



242 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

was made of small pieces of shell, white sometimes, 
but often purple, and ground, polished, drilled, and 
strung or beaded.* 

"Neither the English of this plantation nor of 
any other in these parts," remarks Bradford, " had 
knowledge of wampum till now. But the settlers 
bought fifty pounds' worth of it frohi De Easieres, 
who told them how vendable it was at their Indian 
stations, and did persuade them that they would 
fiud it so at Kennebec ; and so it came to pass, for 
though at first it stuck, and they were two years in 
v/orking off a small quantity, yet afterwards, when 
the inland tribes knew of it, the traders could scarce 
ever get enough to supply the demand, for many 
years together,"! 

De Kasieres was a close and shrewd observer, 
and nothing escaped his keen eyes at Plymouth. 
On his return he wrote a letter in which he de- 
scribed at length the salient characteristics of the 
Pilgrim colony. Let us take a peep iuto the quaint 
old manuscript, and see how New England in its 
Pilgrim babyhood looked in his eyes : 

"New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill 
stretching east towards the seashore. It has a 
broad street about a cannot-shot of eight hundred 
feet long, looking down the slope, with a street 
crossing this in the middle, and running northward 

* Mr. Gookin says : "Wampum is made chiefly by the Narra- 
gansett Block Island Indians. Upon the sandy flats and shores of 
those coasts the wilk shell are found." Hist. Col., vol. 1, p. 152. 

t Bradford, p. 234. 



PBOGBESS. 243 

to a rivulet, very rapid but shallow, which there 
empties into the sea, and soutliAvard to the land. 
The houses are built of hewn planks, with gardens, 
also enclosed behind and at the sides by hewn 
planks, so that their gardens, court-yards, and liouse« 
are arranged in very good order, with a stockade 
against a sudden attack. At the ends of the streets 
there are three wooden gates. Their government is 
after the English form. The governor is annually 
elected. In inheritance they place all children in 
one degree, only the eldest has an acknowledgment 
of senioritj^ They have made stringent laws on 
the subject of adultery and fornication, and these 
ordinances they enforce very strictly, even among 
the savage tribes which live amongst them. 

"Their farms are not so good as ours at New 
Amsterdam, because they are more stony, and con- 
sequently not so fit for the plough. They have their 
freedom without rendering an account to any one ; 
only, if their king should choose to send them a 
governor, they would be obliged to recognize him 
as sovereign, chief. The maize-seed which they do 
not require for their own use they deliver over to 
the governor, at three guilders the bushel, who, in 
his turn, sends it in sloops to the north for the 
traffic in skins amongst the savages. They reckon 
one bushel of maize against one pound of beaver- 
skins. They have better means of living than our- 
selves, since fish swim in abundance before their 
very doors. There are also many birds, such as 
geese, herons, and cranes, and other small-legged 



244 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

birds, which are seen in flocks here in the win- 
ter. 

" The tribes in this neighborhood have the same 
customs as with us, only they are better conducted 
than ours, because the English treat them fairly, 
and give them the example of better ordinances and 
a better life; and also, to a certain degree, give 
them laws, by means of the respect they have from 
the very first established amongst them."* 

In 1629, the bulk of the long lingering Leyden 
exiles — among the rest the wife and two sons of 
John Robinsont — at length landed at Plymouth.^ 
The reunited flock, now sadly thinned by death, 
greeted each other with mutual tears and caresses; 
and tightly-clasped hands and Avet eyes told what 
the voice was too choked to say. But in the rpidst 
of sadness they were joyous, for 

" Hope was changed to glad fruition ; 
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise." 

The expense of transporting these friends was 
very heavy, amounting in the aggregate to six hun- 
dred pounds, as we learn by oj)eniug Allerton's 

* Mr. Brodhead, who obtained this valuable letter, only sum- 
marized in the text, from the archives at the Hague, gives it in fall 
in the New York Hist. Col., sec. series, vol. 2, p. 343, et seq. 

t Prince, vol. 1, p. 160. Deane's Scituate, p. 332. "Mrs. Eob- 
inson, widow of Kev. John Robinson, came over with the latter 
company, with her son Isaac, and perhaps with another son." 
Editorial note in Bradford, p. 247. " There was an Abraham Eob- 
inson early at Gloucester, who is surmised to have been a son of 
the Leyden minister. " Ibid. It has been thought that Mrs. Rob- 
inson did not remain in Plymouth, but went to Salem, ' ' where 
was a Mrs. Robinson very early." MS. Letters of J. J. Babson, 
Esq., of Gloucester, Mass. J Bradford, pp. 247, 248. 



PROGEESS. 245 

charge roll.* Nor was this all; destitute and home- 
less, they had to be maintained the better part of 
fifteen months before they were able to stand on 
their own feet, and pay their way. They liad no 
harvest of their own to reap. Land was given them 
and block-houses were run up for their shelter. 
Then they planted " against the coming of another 
season. "t The Pilgrims, though already overloaded 
with debt, did not grudge this large addition to the 
budget of expense, but showed herein " a rare ex- 
am j)le of brotherly love and Christian care ;" for 
Bradford saj^s that " even thus they were, for the 
most part, both welcome and useful, as they feared 
God and were sober livers. "J 

But if the devout colonists of the Plj'mouth 
slope were " sober livers," all their neighbors were 
not. It seems that some years before this time, 
perhaps in 1625, perhaps a twelvemonth earlier, 
an English Captain Wollaston, inoculated with the 
general rage for planting settlements, had attempt- 
ed to drop one on that rocky height near Boston 
bay which still bears his name.§ Like the foolish 
architect in the Bible, he built on a sandy founda- 
tion, though his colony was bottomed on a rock — 
so strange are the paradoxes of this mortal life. 
" Not finding things to answer his exj)ectations," he 
did not tixrvy long in his eyry, but pressed on into 
Virginia with a portion of his emigrants, intending 

* Bradford, pp. 247, 248. f Ibid., p. 249. 

{ Bradford's Letter-Book, in Mass. Hist. Col., vol. 3, pp. 69, 
70. § Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 233. 



24:6 THE PILGBIM FATHEES, 

soon to return for the rest.* So mucTi for the in- 
tention. But in his absence one of his followers, 
Thomas Morton, "who had been a kind of pettifog- 
ger, of Fernival's Inn," Loudon, and was now broken 
down into an uneasy bloat, ripe for mischief, obtained 
an ascendency over the waiting colonists, and there- 
by assumed control. " Then," says the old recitor, 
"they fell into great licentiousness of life, in all 
profaneness, Morton becoming lord of misrule, and 
maintaining, as it were, a school of atheism. Hav- 
ing gotten some goods into their hands by much 
trading with the Indians, they sj^ent all A'ainly in 
quaffing both wine and stronger liquors in great 
excess — as some have reported, as much as ten 
pounds' worth of a morning. They also set up a 
May-pole, and danced and drank around it, frisk- 
ing about like so many fairies, or /^rrfes rather: and 
worse practices they had, as if they sought anew 
to revive and celebrate the obscene feast of the 
Roman goddess Flora, or the beastly practices of 
the mad Bacchanalians. Morton pretended withal 
to be a poet, and composing sundry rhymes and 
loose verses, some tending to lasciviousness and 
others to detraction and scandal, he affixed these 
to his idle, or idol, May-pole. The name of the 
height was changed ; it was called ' Merry-Mount,' 
as if this jollity would have been perpetual. 

" Now to maintain this riotous prodigality and 
profuse expenditure, Morton, esteeming himself law- 
less, and hearing what gain the fishermen made by 
* Bradford, p. 236. 



PKOGEESS. 247 

trading muskets, powder, and sliot amongst them- 
selves, decided, as head of this consortship, to begin 
the practice in these parts among the Indians, teach- 
ing them how to use, charge, and fire their pieces, 
and the kind of shot fitted to be used for different 
purposes, as hunting and war. Infinite was the 
mischief Avhich came bj this wicked man's greed ; 
in that, despite all laws for the restraint of selling 
ammunition and weapons to the natives, base cove- 
tousness so far prevailed, that the Indians became 
amply provided with guns, powder, shot, rapiers, 
and pistols, also well skilled in their use, and in the 
repair of defective arms."* 

These things, together with the debauchery of 
Indian women and the incitement of his flaunting 
and unwhipped crimes, which drew the dissolute from 
all directions to swell his rabble rout, filled the sur- 
rounding colonists with mingled grief and alarm. 
At the outset expostulation was essayed. "In a 
friendly and neighborly way, Morton was admon- 
ished to forbear these courses." A peculiar char- 
acteristic reveals the man — Ex pede Hercidem. The 
anarch refused to desist. 

"Obtaining false rules praukt in reason's garb," 

he denied the jurisdiction of Plj^mouth, and an- 
swered the remonstrance with an affront. A second 
appeal was equally futile. Then, with their accus- 
tomed stern decision, the Pilgrims acted. Standisli 
was sent to curb this bold blasphemer. '' Morton 
fortified his comrades with drink, barricaded his 

« Morton's Memorial, pp. 137, 138. 



248 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

house, and defied assault." But happily no blood 
was spilled. The reckless, graceless rake succumbed 
without a fight. He was taken first to Plymouth, 
and thence conveyed to England for trial. And so 
ended this exjDeriment of immorality.* 

This episode, with others, is convincing proof 
that the Pilgrims had not wandered into Utopia; 
nor did they seek that fabled bourne. Thej^ ex- 
pected trouble, and they serenely accepted toil, 
thanking God just as joyfully for a little as for 
much. And, indeed, they felt that they walked on 
mercies. They "found all things working together 
for their good." They had already planted a stable 
government, which had been severely tested by open 
outbreak and by insidious assault. Their friends 
had found their way to them across the sea; and 
since they had 

'• Informed their unacquainted feet 
In the blind mazes of this tangled wood," 

their infant state had been emancipated from the 
mercantile dictation of unfriendly men. The bit- 
terness was past ; the night was nearly spent. Joc- 
und day stood a-tip-toe on the misty mountain's 
top. They rested on God's heart. Surely, they 
had occasion to 

" shake the depths of the desert gloom 



With their hymns of lofty cheer." 

They might fitly chant pseans, and sing till 

" the stars heard and the sea! 

And the sounding isles of the dim woods rang 
To the anthem of the free." 

* Bradford, Morton's Memoriid, etc. 



EBENEZEK. 249 



CHAPTEE XX. 

EBENEZER. 

"Behold, they come, those sainted forms, 
Unshaken through the strife of storms ; 
Heaven's darkest cloud hangs coldlj' down. 
And earth puts on its rudest frown ; 
But colder, ruder was the hand. 
That drove them from their own dear land. " 

Spbagub. 

"These are the living lights, 
That from our bold, green heights, 

Shall shine afar, 
Till they who name the name 
Of freedom, towards the flame 
Come, as the Magi came 

Towards Bethlehem's star." 

PlERPONT. 

While the Plymouth Pilgrims, through these 
initial years, were engaged in a stern tussle with 
unkempt nature, in a wrestling-match with froward 
men, and in an essay to survive the " thousand nat- 
ural ills that flesh is heir to" in new settlements, 
writing victoria sine clacle on every page of the strug- 
gle, the Scripture party in England was flounder- 
ing in a " slough of despond." Charles I. was that 
most strange and baleful of anomalies, a treacher- 
ous moralist. He was the painting of a virtue. 
Outwardly he was Cato ; inwardly he was lago. 

" This prince," says Bolingbroke, " had sucked in 
11* 



250 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

with his mother's milk those absurd principles 
which his father was so industrious, and, unhap- 
pily, so successful in propagating."* Back of him 
stood a powerful faction, omnipotent in the church, 
regnant in the state, as wedded as himself to the 
tenets of absolutism, and eager to cry Amen to his 
most doubtful acts — often, indeed, instigating them. 
Both the king and his backers were enamoured 
of that formal Phariseeism which made broad its 
phylactery, and wrote i' holier than thou" upon its 
forehead. Of course, then, they could not but hate 
those godly Puritans, both inside and outside of the 
national Establishment, who, like a rej)roYing Na- 
than, constantly inveighed against self-righteous 
ceremonialism, and sought to inaugurate a jDurer 
and more spiritual ecclesiasticism. The Conform- 
ists had the power, as they had the will. Elizabeth 
had commenced this crusade against the " Gospel- 
lers;" James I. had continued the "harry;" but 
Charles I. outdid Termagant, and he did out-Herod 
Herod. Puritanism was girt with a penal code; 
and now, choked almost purple, it gazed with an 
agony of interest across the water to America, to 
see if haply it might here find an asylum. The 
chances of a successful colonization of these West- 
ern wilds were ardently canvassed. The progress 
of the Pilgrim settlement was closely watched, and 
the spirits of the English Puritans were at high or 
ebb tide in proportion as that test enterprise seemed 
to oscillate towards success or eclipse. As yet only 
• Vide Harris' Life of Charles I., p. 278. 



EBENEZER. 251 

tlie low premonitory moanings of the revolution of 
1641 were heard. Throughout the island, godly 
men began to think of seeking safety and freedom 
of conscience in exile ; and in this they were en- 
couraged by the cxpevimeidum crucis of Plymouth. 
" I pray you," wrote Shirley, the English agent of 
the Pilgrims, "subordinate all temporal things to 
success, that you may disappoint the hopes of our 
foes, and keep open an asylum into which we may 
all soon crowd, unless things mend in this now 
stricken island."* 

But " things did not mend," and multitudes be- 
gan to jDrepare for emigration. And here mark a 
singular fact. We have seen how disastrously those 
enterprises failed which bottomed colonization sim- 
ply on the greed of gain. The victor's bays were 
only for the brow of moral pioneers. It was as 
though God had said, "No; I will not plant men 
in New England who count religion only twelve 
and the world thirteen." The only successful col- 
onists of the northeastern coast-line of the Atlantic 
were men whose motive for emigration was religion, 
and who based their action on an idea — faith. 

It happened, in 1624, that Boger Conant, " a 
most religious, prudent, worthy gentleman," and a 
Puritan, but not a Separatist, somewhat dissatisfied 
with the rigid rule of Bradford, left Plymouth in the 
crisis of the Lyford muddle,! and entering his pin- 

* Bradlbrd's Letter-book. 

t " 'T is not known wlien Conant came over. Nothing appears 
in any of the Plymouth documents to confirm Hiibbard's state- 



252 THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 

nace, sailed across the bay to Nantasket.* Tarry- 
ing there but a twelvemonth, he pushed on to Capo 
Ann ; where, finding a knot of fishermen who resided 
there permanently, occupying themselves in curing 
fish in the absence of the smacks of their fellow- 
voyageurs, he resolved to pause. While sojourning 
here, the English merchants who had sent out these 
fishermen who here stood huddled together on the 
cape, appointed Conant their agent ; whereupon he, 
"not liking the present site, transported his com- 
pany to Naumkeag, some five leagues distant, to the 
southwest of Cape Ann."t 

But neither removal nor Couant's energy saved 
this venture from financial collapse ;:}: and the brave 
pioneer, in 1625, found himself deserted by most of 
his companions and without an occupation, in the 
midst of the tenantless huts of frustrated trade. 
Then religious sentiment came to his rescue. " To 
the eye of faith, mountains are crystal, distance 
may be shaken hands with, oceans are nothing." 
So now old John White of Dorchester, in England, 
" a famous Puritan divine of great gravity, pres- 
ence, and influence," zealous to " spread the gos- 
pel and to establish his way," looking across the 

ment, that Conant was one of Lyford's party at Plymouth. Though 
historians have adopted that ipse dixit, it rests on his word alone. 
But since Hubbard and Conant were afterwards neighbors and 
friepds, he is hkely to have been well informed." Palfrey, vol. I. 
p. 2t)0, note. 

* Elliot. Hubbard's Hist, of New England, chap. 18. 

t Hubbard, chap. 9. Palfrey, Elliot. 

X Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 286. 



EBENEZER 253 

Atlantic, descried Conant, a lonely sentinel of Puri- 
tanism on the northern shore.* The sagacious pas- 
tor saw in Naumkeag a point cVappui. He at once 
wrote Conant : " I have been apprized of the failure 
of the merchants ; but do not desert your post. I 
promise that if you, with Woodbury, Balch, and 
Palfrey, the three honest and prudent men lately 
employed in the fisheries, will stay at Naumkeag, 
I will procure a patent for you, and likewise send 
you whatever you write for, either men, or pro- 
visions, or goods wherewith to begin an Indian 
trade."t 

Surprised and reinvigorated, Conant prevailed, 
though not without difficulty, on his companions to 
remain with him, and they all " stayed at the peril 
of their lives."| 

In 1627, Woodbury sailed for England in quest 
of supplies.§ Meantime " the business came to agi- 
tation in London; and being at first approved by 
some and disliked by others, by dint of much argu- 
ment and disputation, it grew to be well known ; 
insomuch that, some men showing affection for the 
work, and offering the help of their purses if fit 
men might be procured to go over, inquiry' was 
made whether any would be willing to engage their 
persons in the voyage. Thus it fell out that at last 
they lighted, among others, on John Endicott, a 

• Elliott, vol, 1, p. 139. 

f Hubbard, chap. 17. 

X Conant's petition of May 28, 1671, in Mass. Hist. Archives. 

§ Piilfrey, vol. 1, p. 287. 



254 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

man well known to divers jDersons of good repute. 
He manifested much willingness to accept of the 
offer as soon as it was tendered, which gave great 
encouragement to such as were still doubtful about 
setting on this work of erecting a new colony on an 
old foundation."* 

Under the patronage of Dudley, and Salton- 
stail, and Eaton, and Pyncheon, and Bellingham, 
men of substance and " gentlemen born," men will- 
ing and able to offer " the help of their purses," 
reinforced by the good wishes of Puritanism at 
large, the new scheme soon got upon its working 
feet, and walked forward to success. But so far 
the project rested on parchment. It must be vivi- 
fied, and sheltered beneath the imprimatur of a hos- 
tile government. " Many riddles must be resolved," 
said old Shirley, " and many locks must be opened 
by the silver, nay, the golden key."t So they pur- 
chased of the Council for New England " a strip of 
land, in width three miles, north of the Merrimack, 
and three miles south of the Charles river, and run- 
ning back from the Atlantic to the Western ocean ; 
so that they were not likely to be crowded."! Thus, 
though it might say as the chief captain Lysias said 
to Paul, " With a great sum of money obtained I 
this freedom," the new colony had "a local habita- 
tion and a name" ere it was launched. 

It has been well said, that Eudicott was just the 
man to lead this venture; firm, rugged, hopeful, 

* Planters' Plea, chap. 9. f Cited in Bradford, p. 251. 

X Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 139, 140. 



EBENEZER. 255 

zealous, devout, he knew no siicli word as fail. So 
on the 20th of June, 1628, he took his wife and chil- 
dren, and " not much above fifty or sixty other per- 
sons," and plunged across the water.* 

They reached New England in the autumnt — 
that hazy, glowing, golden season, when the woods 
hang out their myriad-tinted banners to the wind, 
when the streams gurgle most laughingly, when 
Nature clajjs her hands with joy, and the 

' ' Hills, rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun," 

smooth their wrinkled fronts into unwonted soft- 
ness. Endicott must have had quite a different idea 
of the western wilds from that which stern, icy De- 
cember daguerreotyped upon the minds of Bradford 
and his coadjutors. 

At once fraternizing with Conant's sentinel 
squad — apprized of their coming by Woodbury, 
who had returned ere Endicott sailed — the new- 
comers proceeded to put up additional cottages; 
and they called the nascent hamlet Salem, " for the 
2Jeace which they had and hoped in it."J Like their 
brothers at Plymouth, they immediately began to ex- 
plore the surrounding country. Imagine their sur- 
prise when, on one occasion, they stumbled across 
" an English palisaded and thatched house." Ap- 
proaching cautiously, they heard the ringing music 
of an anvil. Here, in the heart of the wilderness, 
lived Thomas Walford, a hermit smith who had 

* Planters' Plea, chap. 9. Johnson's Wonder-working Provi- 
dence. Belknap's Biography, p. 249. Hubbard's Hist. 
\ Ibid. 1 Mather's Magnalia, vol 1, pp. 67, 68. 



256 THE PILGKIM FATHEES. 

won wide favor with the Indians by his skill in 
working metals.* 

From this and kindred incidents, historians have 
loved to draw a moral, depicting the excess of indi- 
viduality which marks the Teutonic races. The 
Saxon inevitably individuates. He can stand alone ; 
is self-reliant and aggressive ; asks only, with the old 
cynic, that intruders shall get out of his sunlight. 
He does not gather into cities because he is weak, 
nor because he is social. He is willing, for a piir- 
pose, to go out from men, and to create a society 
patterned on his own model. 'Tis a high qual- 
ity when properly attempered, making individuals 
kings and nations independent. It explores and 
subdues unknown and dreaded continents, and is 
the father of that marvellous enterprise Avhich to- 
day realizes Puck's prophecy, and " puts a girdle 
round the earth in forty minutes." 

Walford's hermitage was in Mishawam. The 
locality seemed favorable for a settlement. The 
explorers returned to Salem with their report ; and 
ere long " a portion of the colonists established 
themselves around the forge of the sturdy black- 
smith ; and with the old patriotic feeling, which 
neither wrongs nor sufferings could altogether root 
out, they named the new settlement Charlestoivn, 
in honor of a king whose severities had driven 
them from the land of their fathers,"t 

The report of Endicott's successful colonization, 

* Charlestowu Kecords, Palfrey, Elliot, Everett's Address, 
t Wilson's Pilgrim Fathers, p. 483. 



EBENEZER. 257 

•whicli reached England early in 1629, encouraged 
White, "the main promoter and chief organizer of 
this business," to plant the adventure upon a 
broader, firmer foundation. The original company 
was but a voluntary, unincorporated partnership.* 
This was now "much enlarged" by recruits from 
the Puritans " disaffected to the rulers in church 
and state. "t The next step was, to get a charter 
and an incorporation. This was solicited, and after 
some little difficulty and delay, obtained. On the 
4th of March, 1629, Charles I. affixed the royal 
seal to a parchment which erected White's coterie 
into a body politic, under the title of " The Gov- 
ernor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, in New 
England."^ 

" The patent passed the seals a few days only 
before Charles I., in a public state paper, avowed 
his design of governing England without a Parlia- 
ment."§ It was cherished by the colonists for more 
than half a century as a most precious boon ; and 
the old charterll is the germ of that " bright, con- 
summate flower," the later constitution.!" 

" The administration of the affairs of this puis- 
sant corporation," remarks Bancroft, "was intrusted 
to a governor, a deputy, and eighteen assistants, 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 290. 

•j- Colony Records. Cradock's Letter in Young's Chronicles. 

t Prince ; Hazard. Hubbard's Hist. Memoir of J. Endicott, 
Salem, 1847. § Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 3i2. 

II This is filed in the State-House in Boston, and is printed in 
Colony Laws, in Hutchinson's Call, and in Hazard. Bancroft. 

II Palfrey, Wilson. 



258 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

who were to be annuallj elected by a general vote 
of the members of tlie body politic. Four times a 
year, or oftener if desired, a general assembly of 
the freemen was to be held ; and to these assem- 
blies, which were invested with the necessary pow- 
ers of legislation, inquest, and superintendence, the 
most important matters were referred. No provis- 
ion required the assent of the king to render the 
acts of the colonial authorities valid. In his eye it 
was but a trading corporation, not a civil govern- 
ment. Its doings were esteemed as indifferent as 
those of any guild in England ; and if grave pow- 
ers of jurisdiction in America were conceded, it was 
only because successful trade demanded the con- 
cession."* 

Nothing was said of religious liberty. The 
crown may have relied on its power to restrain it; 
the emigrants may have trusted to distance or 
obscurity to protect it.t But enough was gained. 
The charter necessitated full liberty. "If you plant 
an oak in a flower-vase," says Goethe, " either the 
oak must wither or the vase must crack." The 
Puritans meant to let it crack. It is singular that 
neither Charles nor his l^^nx-eyed ministers should 
have detected the freedom or scented the heresy 
which lurked in the broad terms of the glorious old 
parchment. 

In the old legend, a fisherman took a casket out 
of the sea, and found on its cover the seal of Solo- 
omon. He broke it, and out of the slender casket 
* Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 3i2, 343, f Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 291. 



EBENEZEE. 259 

rose a giant till lie lifted into colossal shape, and 
raised his right hand to crush the interloper. So 
now Charles broke the Solomon-seal of his coer- 
cion, and enabled this young giant of the West to 
rise to its legitimate proportions, clutching in its 
right hand the wholesome sceptre which should 
crush all obstacles to progressive liberty. In the 
fable, the fisherman, by a cunning story, lured the 
giant to go back into the casket, which he then 
tossed back again into the sea. But neither Charles 
nor his successors could ever persuade America to 
go back into the box. 



239 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

"FAREWELL, DEAR ENGLAND." 

"With news the time's in labor, and throws forth 
Each minute some. " Shakspeaeb. 

"Why should we crave a halloM'ed spot? 
An altar is in each man's cot ; 
A church in every grove that spreads 
Its living roof above our heads. " 

WORDSWOETH. 

With the precious charter in its pocket, the 
complacent Massachusetts Comj)any strode out of 
the royal antechamber, and proceeded at once to 
effect an organization. Matthew Cradock was 
elected to the gubernatorial chair; and to Endi- 
cott, as deputy, was delegated the government of 
New England.* 

A letter of instructions was indited. It was 
unique, and highly illustrative of the benevolent 
spirit of these builders of states — Condifores Impe- 
riorum — to whose bi'otherhood Lord Bacon, in "the 
true marshalling of the sovereign degrees of honor," 
assigns the highest place. t Let us cull some spe- 
cimen paragraphs from the old parchment : " If any 
of the savages" — such were the orders long and 
uniformly followed and placed on record more than 

* Young's Chronicles, Prince, Mass. Hist. Coll. 
t Bacon's Works, vol. 2. 



"FAREWELL, DEAR ENGLAND." 23L 

half a century before William Penn proclaimed the 
princii^les of peace on the borders of the Dela- 
ware* — " pretend right of inheritance to all or any 
part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you 
endeavor to purchase their title, that we may avoid 
the least scruple of intrusion."! Elsewhere the 
colonial authorities were bidden " particularly to 
publish, that no wrong nor injury be offered to the 
Indians.":!: 

Tobacco was held in especial abhorrence, and 
denounced as " a trade by this whole Company dis- 
owned, and utterly disclaimed by some of the chief- 
est, who absolutely declare themselves unwilling to 
have a hand in the plantation, if the intention be 
to cherish or permit the culture thereof."§ 

Endicott was authorized to expel the incorrigi- 
ble, using force when necessary. It was also ap- 
pointed that all labor should cease at " three o'clock 
on Saturday afternoon, in preparation for the Sab- 
bath."! 

The colonial seal was an Indian erect, with an 
arrow in his right hand, and the motto, " Come 
over and help us," peculiarly appropriate in that 
age. The old seal has been retained by Massachu- 

* Bancroft, vol. 1 , p. 346. 

f Prince's Chronicles, p. 247. J Ibid. 

§ Cited in Elliot, vol. 1, p. 142. "In a subsequent letter this 
is reiterated thus : ' We especially desii-e you to take care that no 
tobacco be planted under your government, unless it be some 
small quantity for mere necessity, for physic, or the preservation 
of health ; and that the same be taken privately by old men, and 
no other.'" Ibid. 

II Young's Chronicles, p. 141. Hazard, vol. 1. 



262 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

setts ; but the motto has been superseded hj Alger- 
non Sydney's famous Latin, Suh lihertcde quietem.* 

"No idle drone may live amongst us;" so ran 
the colonial statute ; and it " was the spirit as well 
as the law of the dauntless community which was 
to turn the steriUty of New England into a cluster 
of wealthy, cultured, model states." 

The charter had been granted to the Massachu- 
setts Company in March ; in April preparations 
were hastening for the embarkation of fresh emi- 
grants.t It was not difficult to get recruits; for 
the pinchers of tender consciences grew daily more 
rigorous. Puritanism saw popery preparing to 
spring upon it upon one side; it felt the ravenous 
bite of the Conformists on the other side. It was 
worse than folly to look to the government for re- 
dress ; that was the engine of the persecutors. Yil- 
liers of Buckingham, that volatile madman, who was 

"Every thing by tiims, and nothing long," 

as Pope has painted him, had been recently assas- 
sinated. His place in the king's confidence was 
now filled by Strafford, the systematizer of tyranny 
in England, whose audacious genius impelled him 
to attempt to nationalize despotism, and erected 
the tenets of absolute power inside of constitu- 
tional forms. J By his side stood Laud, his Siam- 
ese twin, a prelate who assumed to ransack the uni- 
verse — 

* Bancroft. f Ibid., vol. 1, p. 345. 

t History of the English Puritans, American Tract Society, N. 
Y., 1867. 



"FAREWELL, DEAR ENGLAND." 263 

"Whose tongue 
Outvenomed all the worms of Nile." 

The statesman and the priest carried it with a high 
hand;* and the time was not yet when Cozens could 
say, " The king has no more authority in ecclesias- 
tical matters than the boy who rubs my horse's 
heels."t 

The suffering Non- conformists, "meted and 
peeled" at home, heard with rapture of that Puri- 
tan colony in the wilderness, governed by men 
whose opinions accorded with their own, and shel- 
tered beneath the segis of a royal charter. Emi- 
gration began to assume unprecedented propor- 
tions ;:j; and the Company might have its pick of the 
best men in the island. But much good seed was 
left ; enough to grow Cromwell, and nourish Hamp- 
den, and succor Pym. 

By the middle of April, 1629, six ships were 
ready to sail; and under license from the Lord 
Treasurer, these were freighted with " eighty wom- 
en and maids and twenty-six children" — hostages 
of the j&xed attachment of the emigrants to the New 
World — "and two hundred men, with victuals, arms, 
tools, and necessary wearing apparel."§ They also 
took on board " one hundred and forty head of cat- 
tle, and forty goats. || 

As this was a religious enterprise, care was taken 

* Hist, of the English Puritans, ut antea. 

t Hume, Hist, of Eng., vol. 2, p. 253. 

t Perry, Eccl. Hist., vol. 1. 

§ Mass. Col. Eec, vol. 1. Palfrey. 

II Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 293. 



204 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

" to make plentiful provision of godly ministers."* 
Four clergymen now embarked for Massachusetts 
Bay. Two of these made no figure on the north 
shore of New England. Bright was a strict Con- 
formist; and not liking the ecclesiastical proceed- 
ings of his comrades, he returned to England in the 
succeeding summer.f Smith was a Separatist ; and 
since these Puritans were not yet "Come-outers," 
they were shy of him, so that in landing he went 
to Nantasket,:j: where we shall meet him again. 
The remaining two were Mr. Higginson and Mr. 
Skelton; the first of Leicestershire, the other of 
Lincolnshire. § They were both ardent Puritans, 
who had held livings in the Church of England, 
and been silenced for non-conformity.|| On receiv- 
ing an invitation to accompany this expedition, 
they had "esteemed it a call from heaven," and 
joyfully assented.T "Both of these men," says 
Cotton Mather, " were eminent for learning and 
virtue ; and being thus in a sense driven out of 
England, they sought graves on the American 
strand, whereon the epitaph might be inscribed 
that was on Scipio's : Ingrata 'patria, ne mortui 
q^ddem hahehis ossa."^^'' But unlike the ill-used 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 293. Mather's Magnalia. 
f Higginson's New England Plantation. Palfrey. 
% Bradford, p. 263. Palfrej-, vol. 1, p. 294. 
§ Mather's Magnalia. 

li Ibid., vol. 1, p. 68. Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 294, 295. 
V Hutchinson's Coll., 24, 25. Hubbard, Bancroft. 
** Mather's Magnalia, ut antea. "Ungrateful country of my 
birth, thou shall not possess even my lifeless bones. " 



"FAREWELL, DEAE ENGLAND." 265 

pagan, they had no taunts for their erring country. 
" We will not say," cried Francis Higginson, as he 
stood on deck off the Isle of Wight, and looked 
back on the receding shores of the fast-anchored 
island — "We will not say, Farewell, Babylon, 
Farewell, Eome! but, Farewell, dear England!"* 

" England did not regret the departure of these 
Christian heroes, because she did not know her best 
men. What nation does ? To materialists and pol- 
iticians, these Pilgrims seemed to be visionaries 
and idealists ; impracticable, and in the way. Yet 
this class is always the life of a nation. We can 
look back upon them, and surfeit them with praise ; 
but we cannot easily see their mates walking amongst 
us, treading our own sidewalks, and so learn to cher- 
ish, and not kill the prophets."t 

Higginson, Skelton, and their future parishion- 
ers, landed at Salem " in the last days of June.":]: 
Their friends already on the spot gave them a 
hearty pioneer welcome. Higginson employed his 
first leisure moments in writing home a transcript 
of the situation : " When we came first to Naum- 
keag, we found about half a score of cottages, and 
a fair house built for the governor. We found also 
abundance of corn planted by those here, very good 
and well-liking. The two hundred passengers whom 
we brought were, by common consent of the old 
planters, combined together into one body politic, 

» Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 7-1. Uhden, pp. G.3, G4 

t Elliot, vol. 1, p. 150. 

X They landed on the 24th of June, 1629. Uhden, Hutchinson. 

PllRrlm Fathers. 12 



268 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

^lnder the same governor. There are in all of us, 
both old and new planters, about three hundred ; 
whereof two hundred are planted at Na^^mkeag, 
now called Salem, and the rest have settled at Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, beginning to build a town there, 
which we call Charlestown. But that which is our 
greatest comfort, and our means of defence above 
all others, is, that we have here the true religion 
and holy ordinances of Almighty God taught 
amongst us. Thanks be to God, we have here 
plenty of preaching and diligent catechizing, with 
strict and careful exercise and good and commend- 
able order to bring our people into a Christian 
conversation with those with whom we have to do 
withal. And thus we doubt not but God will be 
with us ; and if God be with us, who can be against 

US .'' '• 

On their arrival at Salem, these Massachusetts 
Pilgrims found no church. It was their first care 
to erect one ; and in the prosecution of this work, 
they had recourse to the devout Plymouth colonists, 
their brothers in the faith. Cordial greetings had 
already been exchanged between these sister colo- 
nies. About the time of the arrival of Higginson, 
" an infection had spread among the northern pio- 
neers, of which many died ; some of the scurvy, oth- 
ers of a hectic fever."t Endicott had sent a mis- 
sive to Plymouth at this time, requesting medical 
aid, as he had no leech with him. Bradford imme- 

• Higginson's New England Plantation, pp. 123, 124. 
t Bradford, pp. 2fi3, '2C,i. 



"FAEEV/ELL, DEAE ENGLAND." 267 

diately sent Thomas Fuller, physician to his planta- 
tion, and the first in New England — for he was a 
comer in the "MayfloAver" — to the relief of the 
Salem sufferers, and armed him with an affection- 
ate letter of condolence and Christian sympathy.* 

These lines, and the prompt despatch of the 
surgeon, Endicott thus acknowledged: 

" Eight Worthy Sir — It is a thing not usual 
that servants to one Master and of the same house- 
hold should be strangers ; I assure you, I desire it 
not ; nay, to speak more jolainly, I cannot be so to 
you. God's people are all marked with one and the 
same mark and sealed with one and the same seal, 
and have, in the main, one and the same heart, 
guided by one and the same Spirit of truth ; and 
where this is, there can be no discord ; nay, here 
must needs be sweet harmony. And the same 
request, with you, I make unto the Lord — that we 
may, as Christian brethren, be united by a heav- 
enly and unfeigned love, bending all our hearts and 
forces in furthering a work beyond our unaided 
strength, with reverence and fear, fastening our 
eyes always on Him that is able to direct and pros- 
per all our ways. 

" I acknowledge myself much bound to you for 
your kind love and care in sending Mr. Fuller 
among us, and rejoice much that I am by him sat- 
isfied touching your judgments of the outward form 
of God's worshij). It is, so far as I can gather, no 
other than is warranted by the evidence of truth, 
* Bradford, pp. 263, 264. 



268 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

and the same wliicli I have professed and main- 
tained ever since tlie Lord in mercy revealed him- 
self to me ; being far from the common report that 
hath been spread of you touching this particular.* 
But God's children must not look for less here be- 
low than ill-report and slanderous gibes ; and 't is a 
great mercy that he strengthens them to go through 
with it, I shall not need, at this time, to be tedious 
unto you, for, God willing, I purpose to see your 
face shortly. In the mean time, I humbly take my 
leave of 3'^ou, committing you to the Lord's blessed 
protection and rest. 

" Tour assured Friend, 

"JO. ENDICOTT. 
"Naumkeag, May 11, lG29."t 

The chain of friendship thus early welded had 
an additional link added to it when the Leyden 
exiles, borne to America in company with Higgin- 
son and Skelton, landed from the same flotilla, and 
pushed from Salem on to Plymouth, Bradford, in 
reciting this incident, says finely, " Their long stay 
and keeping back was recompensed by the Lord to 
their friends here with a double blessing, in that 
they not only enjoyed them now beyond their late 
expectation, but with them many more godly friends 
and Christian brothers, as the beginning of a larger 
harvest unto the Lord, in the increase of his church- 
es and people in these waste parts, to the admira- 

* In allusion to the widespread charge of Brownism, and big- 
oted exclusion of all other sects from Christian fellowship, 
t Bradford, pp. 264, 265. 



"FAEEWELL, DEAR ENGLAND." 269 

tion of many and the wonder of the world ; and that 
here should be a resting-place for so many of God's 
children, when so sharp a scourge came ujDon their 
own land. But it was the Lord's doing, and it 
ought to be marvellous in our eyes."* 

Higginson and Endicott had reached Salem in 
the latter part of June, 1629. Some twenty days 
later, Endicott " set apart a solemn day of humilia- 
tion for the foundation of a church and the choice 
of a pastor and a teacher."t The elder Pilgrims at 
Pljanouth were invited to be present, and lend their 
countenance to the unique ceremony.^ 

The 20th of July arrived. The first j)art of the 
day was spent in prayer and preaching ; the latter 
portion was devoted to the ecclesiastical election. § 
"It was after this manner," says Gott — who had 
come over with Endicott, and was afterwards a dea- 
con in the Salem church — in a letter to Bradford 
rehearsing the proceedings : " the persons thought 
of, who had been ministers in the English Estab- 
lishment, were questioned concerning their calling 
to preach. They acknowledged that there was a 
twofold calling, the one inward, when the Lord 
moved the heart of man to take that calling upon 
him, and fitted him with gifts for it ; the other out- 
ward, and from the people, when a company of be- 
lievers are united in a covenant to walk together 

« Bradford, p. .245. 

t Higginson's New England Plantation. Gott's letter to Brad- ' 
ford ; cited in Bradford, pp. 265, 266. 

X Talfrey. § Ibid., Bradford, Gott, etc. 



270 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

in all the ways of God, and all the male members 
are given a free voice in the choice of their church 
officers. Now Ave, being persuaded that these two 
men were so qualified as the apostle speaks to Tim- 
othy, 'A bishop must be blameless, sober, apt to 
teach,' we think we may say, as the eunuch said 
imto Philip, 'What should hinder my being bap- 
tized, seeing there is water?' and he believed. So 
those servants of God, clearing all things by their 
answers, and being thus fitted, we saw no reason 
why we might not freely give our voices for their 
election. Therefore every fit member wrote in a 
note the name of him whom the Lord moved him 
to think fit for a jDastor; and so likewise the name 
of him whom they would have for a teacher. Mr. 
Skelton was chosen pastor, and Mr. Higginson 
teacher ; and they accepting the choice, Mr. Hig- 
ginson, with several others, laid hands on Mr. Skel- 
ton, using prayer therewith ; after which there was 
an imposition of hands on Mr. Higginson by Mr. 
Skelton and the rest."* 

Bradford, " and some others with him, coming 
by sea," and being " hindered by cross-winds," 
could not reach Salem in the beginning of the cer- 
emony, but " came into the assembly afterwards, 
and gave them the riglit hand of fellowship, wish- 
ing all prosperity and a blessed success unto such 
good beginnings."t 

Some days after this election,. Mr. Higgin- 

« Gott's Letter to Bradford. 

{■ Morton's Memorial, p. 146. Hubbard, Prince. 



"FAKEWELL, DEAK ENGLAND." 271 

son drew up " A Confession of Faith and Church 
Covenant." Thirty persons assented to it, and a 
self-constituted church was planted in the wilder- 
ness.'^ This transaction has determined and col- 
ored the whole religious constitution of New Eng- 
land. It was a bold and aggressive act. But the 
Pilgrims had always objected to the ceremonial law 
of the home Establishment ; and now, being in the 
Western wilds, they felt free to form their ecclesi- 
asticism on what they conceived to be a more au- 
thentic model. " In their position, such words as 
'Non-conformity' and 'Separatism' ceased to be 
significant. It was only important that they should 
conform to their view of the Bible ; and their deter- 
mination to do so was not shaken by the thought 
that in doing so they must separate, not in spirit, 
but in discipline and usage, from a church three 
thousand miles away."t 

The New England theocracy was begotten of 
these proceedings.:}: " The emigrants," remarks 
Bancroft, " were not so much a body politic as a 
church in the wilderness, with no benefactor around 
them but Nature, no present sovereign but God. 
An entire separation was made between church 
and state — at least in theory; religious worship 
was established on the basis of the independence 
of each separate religious community ; and these 

* See the Covenant in Neale's Histoiy of New England, vol. 1 , 
pp. 141-143. The subordinate church officers were not chosen till 
later. See Bradford's Lettei'-book. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 298. 

X Uhden's New England Theocracy. 



272 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

rigid Calvinists, of whose rude intolerance the 
world had been filled with malignant calumnies, 
subscribed a covenant cherishing, it is true, the 
severest virtues, but without one tinge of fanati- 
cism. It was an act of piety, not of study ; it fa- 
vored virtue, not superstition ; inquiry, and not 
submission. The communicants were enthusiasts, 
but not bigots."* They declared that "the Holy 
Scriptures only were to be followed, and no man's 
authority, be he Avigustine, TertulHan, or even Cher- 
ubim or Seraphim." t 

This entire transaction gave dissatisfaction to 
some at Salem. Finally, John and Samuel Brown, 
" two brothers, the one a merchant, the other a law- 
yer, both men of parts, estate, and figure in the 
settlement, gathered a company separate from the 
public assembly.:]: 

Mutual bickerings ensued. A breach of the 
peace was threatened.§ Then Endicott interposed. 
He sent the Browns home to England, and thereby 
restored quiet. || 

The brothers Brown, on reaching England, car- 
ried a lusty impeachment to the archiepiscopal 
throne, then occupied by Laud.T The Massachu- 
setts Company, alarmed by the clamor, wrote let- 
ters of caution to Endicott: "Beware! 'tis possi- 

* Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 318. t Mather's Magnalia. 

t Ibid., vol. 1, p. 72. 

§ Ibid., iMorton, Prince, Young, Cheever. 

II Young'.s Chronicles, p. 288. 

II Mass. Col. Eec, vol. 1, p. 408. 



"FAREWELL, DEAR ENGLAND." 278 

ble some undigested counsels have been too sud- 
denly put in execution, which may have ill-con- 
struction with the state here, and make us obnox- 
ious to any adversary ;"''^ which shows, not that the 
island Puritans did not sympathize with bluff Endi- 
cott's action, but that they dreaded lest it might 
provoke a hostile government to give their pet col- 
ony its coup de grace. 

* Mass. Col. Kec, vol. 1, p. 408. 



12* 



274 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE AEBELLA. 

"We will renew the times of tnitli aud justice, 
Condensing into a fair free commonwealtli, 
Not rash equality, but equal rights, 
Proportioned like the columns of the temple, 
Giving and taking strength reciprocal, 
And making firm the whole with grace and beauty, 
So that no part could be removed without 
Infringement of the general harmony. " 

Bteon's Doge of Venice. 

The success of Endicott and the supplementary 
success of the detachments despatched to reinforce 
him — success which at the very outset had left the 
older settlement at Plymouth, plodding on under a 
heavy load of debt and odium, far behind — stirred 
English Puritanism as with the blast of a trumpet. 
So intense was the interest in the new colony, 
throughout the realm, that a tract descrij)tive of 
New England, written by Higginson, and sent over 
to England, in manuscript, was printed, and ran 
through three editions in as many months.* In 
every hamlet, on every street-corner, eager groups 
met and discussed the right and the policy of emi- 
gration; and the most scrupulous consciences met 
the query, " Is it permitted that men fly from per- 
secution?" by responding, "Yes; for persecution 
may lead our posterity to abjure the truth." 
* Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 350. 



THE AEEELLA. 275 

Soon tliis stir had au effect. Some of the pur- 
est, w-^althiest, and best-educated men in England 
agreed to embark for America. One thing only had 
made them hesitate; the colonial government resided 
in England, and was only sifted into New-England 
by delegation. The charter empowered the com- 
pany, and not the colonists, to transport persons, 
establish ordinances, and settle government.* It 
was a chrysalis ; it had the face of a commercial 
corporation, but was pregnant with the essence of 
an independent provincial government. Like the 
mermaid, it had a human head, but its body was 
the body of a fish. This puissant possibilit}- — who 
should evoke it ? Who should utter the talismanic 
words fit to set free the hidden spirit of self-govern- 
ment ? Matthew Cradock, the governor of the com- 
pany, pronounced the " open sesame." He saw, as 
did other sagacious men, that the residence of the 
corporate authority in England embarrassed emi- 
gration, barred prosperity, and opened the door to 
discord. The colonists sighed for a real governor, 
not one in masquerade ; and all began to realize 
that a government three thousand miles away 
could not successfully legislate for a settlement 
whose growing necessities came as quickly and 
changed as rapidly as the combinations of a kalei- 
doscope. 

So Cradock, with generous self-abnegation, him- 
self proposed the transfer of the charter to such of 
the freemen of the company as should themselves 
* See the ipsissima verba of the charter, Mass. Hist. Col. 



276 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

inhabit the colony.* A heated debate ensued. 
Both pros and cons had their say, and the forsiers of 
the project strengthened their argument by pointing 
to such men as Winthrop, Saltonstall, Johnson, Dud- 
ley, and Humphrey, all of whom had recently bound 
themselves at Cambridge to sail for Massachusetts 
Bay, accompanied by their families, provided the 
colonial government should be transferred to the 
Plantation.'!- 

This decided the company, and a general assent 
was given to the alienation of the patent. J Then 
came an obstacle. The crown lawyers said, " It is 
not so nominated in the bond; you have no right, 
standing under, this corporation charter in London, 
to transfer your power." Our fathers replied : 
"King Charles has granted us certain authorit}^, 
but our charter does not bind us to exercise that 
authority in England ; locality is not specified. We 
choose to vote that emigrants shall be freemen, and 
to summon a meeting beyond the Atlantic. You 
say this was not contem^Dlated ; but where is it -for- 
bidden? If you can quibble, so can we. If we 
have not the right, we will create it. In the light 
of our success lawyers may read the reason and 
hunt uj) a precedent fifty years hence." 

It was thus that Puritanism, strong in faith, bold 
in emergencies, met the exigencies and trod down 
the difficulties of its epoch. " The corporation did 
not sell itself — it emigrated. The patent could not 

* Hntcliinson's Hist, of Mass., vol. 1, p. 13. Bancroft, Gra- 
hame. f Ibid. % Ibid. Young's Chronicles, p. 88. 



THE ARBELLA. 277 

be assigned; but the patentees could call a legal 
meeting in the metropolis, or on board ship in an 
English harbor ; and why not in the port of Salem 
as well as at the Isle of Wight ? in a cabin or under 
a tree at Charlestown as well as at the house of 
Goffe in London?" 

Thus it was that a unique and daring construc- 
tion transformed a trading company into a munici- 
pality — a change fraught with momentous conse- 
quences. Before this decision all hesitation fell. 
The Cambridge friends announced their readiness 
to sail, and the old authorities of the Company at 
once resigned, in order that their offices might be 
filled by the chief emigrants.* John Winthrop was 
elected governor ; John Humphrey was appointed 
deputy; and these were reinforced by eighteen as- 
sistants.t Just on the eve of embarkation, Hum- 
phrey's place was supplied by Thomas Dudley, he 
being for a space unavoidably detained in England.:}; 

Winthrop at once accepted the charge ; and when 
he informed his son of the decision, the younger 
Winthrop replied : " I shall call that my country 
where I may most glorify God and enjoy the presence 
of my dearest friends. Therefore herein I submit my- 
self to God's will and yours, and dedicate myself to 
Heaven and the Company, with the Avhole endeav- 
ors both of mind and body. The motives for emi- 
gTation are unimpeachable ; and it cannot but be a 
prosperous action which is so well allowed by the 

* Hutchinson, Winthrop, Palfrey, Bancroft. f Ibid. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 302. 



278 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

judgment of God's prophets, undertaken by so re- 
ligious and wise worthies in Israel, and indented to 
God's glory in so special a service."^ 

And now preparations for an extensive emigra- 
tion were ardently pushed. The finances of the 
Company were put on a new basis. All contribu- 
tors to the fund Avere ipso facto entitled to a share 
in the profits of the colonial trade and to a grant of 
Massachusetts land.f " The outlay was distributed 
in such proportions that it was not burdensome in 
any quarter. The richer emigrants submitted to it 
joyfully, from public spirit ; the poorer as a panacea 
for existing evils.":j: 

Early in the spring of 1630, ten vessels were 
ready to weigh anchor. Richer than the argosies 
of the old Venetian or Genoan merchants, this fleet 
was freighted with the seed of a future empire ; 
with the planters of a renovated England, secure in 
freedom, firm in religion ; with the builders of a 
transatlantic Saxon state, bound to realize in its 
beneficent order the noblest dreams of English 
patriots and sages. Troops of ministering angels 
hovered round it to ward off danger, and God's OAvn 
benediction sealed and sanctified the daring venture. 

Let us descend into the little cabin of the " Ar- 
bella," and scan the faces and take the hands — if 
we are worthy — of some of the most famous person- 
ages of this august Company of devout voyageurs. 
The cabin is long, and low, and dark. But 'tis 

" Cited in Hutchinson, in Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 359, 360, and 
m Bancroft. f Palfrej'-, vol. 1, p. 310. % Ibid. 



THE AEBELLA. 279 

lighted now, somewhat dingily, indeed, yet still suffi- 
ciently to enable iis to discern a table covered with 
maps and legal parchments, round which are ranged 
a score of deeply-interested talkers. 

That tall, handsome, gentlemanly man, who sits 
at the head of the table, is John Winthrop, the new 
governor. See what an easy grace there is in his 
every movement ; he has the port of one habituated 
to command, yet he is very gentle withal. His hair 
is just touched with silver, and he is in the prime of 
life — just forty-two, ripe and mellow, Winthrop is 
not a needy, sour adventurer ; he comes of an an- 
cient family long seated at Groton, in Suffolk, where 
he has a property whose income yields him six or 
seven hundred pounds a year — the equivalent of at 
least ten thousand dollars now-a-days. Evidently 
he quits England from some higher motive than to 
fatten his exchequer. This is he whom Cotton 
Mather terms the " Lycurgus of New England ;" 
" as devout as Numa, but not liable to any of his 
heathenish madnesses ; a governor in whom the ex- 
cellences of Christianity made a most imposing addi- 
tion unto the virtues wherein even without these he 
would have made a parallel for the great men of 
Greece and Rome whom the pen of Plutarch has 
eternized."* A calm, unobtrusive, able gentleman, 
Winthrop had "studied that book, which, profes- 
sing to teach politics, had but three leaves, and on 
each leaf but one word — modekation." He had 
been initiated into the mysteries of state-craft when 

*> Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 107. 



280 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

a boy, for from his youth he had moved in the circles 
where the highest questions of English policy were 
discussed and elaborated by the familiar associates of 
Whitgift, and Bacon, and Essex, and Cecil Burleigh.* 

At the right of Winthrop and chatting pleas- 
antly with him, stands Thomas Dudley. He is short 
and thickset in stature, and stern in expression; a 
man fit to lead a forlorn hope. Quick and irasci- 
ble in temper, uncompromising when he esteems 
himself in the right, every word he utters has the 
ring of authority. He is a man who speaks bullets. 
His head is grayer than Winthrop's, but he is still 
robust, and he walks with a martial air — and no 
wonder, for he is a soldier. Thirty years before 
he had borne arms under Henri Quatre in the ranks 
of the Huguenots, a service which had indoctrina- 
ted him in the love of civil and religious liberty ;t 
and he was old enough to have seen Sir Philip Sid- 
ney, heard Spencer recite verses to Elizabeth, and 
lent a shrill voice to the wild huzza at the defeat of 
the Spanish Armada.:}: 

But who is this that glides up to Winthroj?, and, 
touching him upon the shoulder, speaks a word in 
his ear? It is John Humphre}^, " a gentleman of 
special parts, of learning and activity, and a godly 
man."§ He does not sail now, but is here to bid 
his friends God s]3eed. 

* See Wiuthrop's Life, by E. C. Winthrop, Boston, 1566. 
Mather's Account, Hutchmson"s Sketch, Palfrey, etc., etc. 

t Palfrey, vol. I, p. 303. } Ibid. EUiot, Wilson. 

§ Winthrop's Hist, of New England, vol. 1, p 332. 



THE ARBELLA. 281 

See, yonder, leaning Avith graceful negligence 
against the wainscot of the cabin, lounges a pale, 
thoughtful, intellectual young man, with a fine head 
and a face whose expression is that of lovable seri- 
ousness. This is Isaac Johnson, the wealthiest of 
the Pilgrims, a land-owner in three counties.* But 
profoundly impressed with the importance of emi- 
gration, and aware of the necessity of an example, 
he has risen from the lap of artificial and patrician 
life and flung away the softness of a luxurious home 
to battle with the rigors of a wilderness. Like 
Humphrey, who now approaches to shake hands 
with him, he is a son-in-law of the earl of Lincoln, 
the head in that day of the now ducal house of New- 
castle,!' and also, like his relative, he has been the 
familiar companion of the patriotic nobles.:]: 

Johnson now goes out as one of "Winthrop's as- 
sistants, as does also Sir Kichard Saltonstall, of 
Halifax, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, a bounti- 
ful contributor to the finances of the emigration, § 
This little man, whose keen, searching eyes take in 
every thing without an effort, as he sits quietly on the 
left side of the table, is Theophilus Eaton, an emi- 
nent London merchant, but accustomed to courts, 
as he had resided at Copenhagen as English minis- 
ter to Denmark.ll That grave, sedate gentleman, 
directly opposite Eaton, is Lucien Bradstreet, sou 
of a dissenting minister in Lincolnshire, and grand- 

o Mass. Hist. Col. Palfrey, Prince, Mather. t Ibid. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 303. § Ibid. 

jj Hurae, Hist. Eng. Mather, Prince. 



282 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

son of a " Suffolk gentleman of fine estate," and was 
graduated at Emanuel College, Cambridge. By his 
side sits William Vassall, an opulent West India 
proj)rietor.* These, and some others known to 
fame, now stood clustered in the cabin of the " Ar- 
bella" — a little ship of three hundred and fifty tons 
burdent — forming one of the grandest collections of 
friends on any historic canvas. 

Nor were they alone. Many of the settlers 
had their families with them.:]: The enterprise was 
still further hallowed by the unshrinking devotion 
of unselfish women. These, inspired by piety and 
love, gave up all that is most dear and most essen- 
tial to their lives, "security and the comfort of 
homes in England, to brave the stormy, frightful 
sea, to land on these bleak, wild shores, to front the 
miseries and trials of pioneer life, and to sink into 
untimely graves, as so many did. These were the 
martyrs who laid down their lives for freedom 
and for us; to them, therefore, let us uncover our 
heads."§ 

' ' By fairy hands their knell is rang, 
By forms unseen their clirge is sung ; 
There Honor comes, a Pilgrim gray, 
To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; 
And Freedom shall awhile repair 
To dwell, a weeping hermit there." 

* Archjeologia Americana, vol. 3, 47, et seq. From this work 
most of the above facts have been cited. 

f Formerly the "Eagle ;" she was a naval vessel, and carried 
twenty-eight guns. She had been recently bought by the Compa- 
ny. Palfrey. J Winthrop's Hist, of New England. 

§ Elliot, vol. 2, pp. 16, 17. 



THE AEBELLA. 283 

Foremost among these noble women, in posi- 
tion, in culture, and in sacrifice, stood the Lady 
Arbella"^ Johnson. Her heroism has thrown a halo 
of poetry around a venture which needed no addi- 
tional ray to make it bloom in immortal verse. The 
daughter of Earl Lincoln, the idol of her associates, 
she was yet a Puritan. Married to Isaac Johnson, 
she was indeed a helpmeet, sharing in his feelings 
and animating him to loftier exertions. When her 
husband resolved to emigrate, she determined to 
share his jDeril, and though ill-fitted to brave the 
rigors of an inclement wilderness by her delicate 
nature, she answered all objections by sajaug, "God 
will care for me, and I must do my duty." An exile 
voyage was her wedding tour ; and so touched were 
the Pilgrims by her devotion, that they named their 
vessel after her, the " Arbella."t 

Such was the character, such the home position, 
of Winthroj) and his coadjutors. Even the preju- 
diced and reluctant pen of that high Torj^, Chal- 
mers, though essaying a sneer, had half of its curse 
turned into a blessing, for he was compelled to write, 
" The principal planters of Massachusetts were Eng- 
lish country gentlemen of no inconsiderable for- 
tunes ; of enlarged understandings, improved by 

^ The most common orthography is Arabella, but later writers 
almost unanimously reject this spelling, which is founded on the 
often erring authority of Mather in the Magnalia, and of Josselyn, 
and accept that of John Winthrop in his Diary, of Johnson in the 
"Wonder-working Providence," and of Dudley's Epistles. All of 
these men were personally intimate with Mrs. Johnson, and they 
must have known her name. See Winthrop, p. 1, note. 

t Mather, Winthrop, Palfrey, Elliot, Hutchinson, etc., etc. 



284 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

liberal education ; of extensive ambition, concealed 
under an appearance of religious humility,"* 

On the 29th of March, 1630, the " Arbella" sailed 
from Cowes, off the Isle of Wight, and speeding 
down the channel, stopped at Yarmouth to join 
her consorts, the " Talbot," the " Jewel," the "Am- 
brose," and the rest.t Here the self-banished devo- 
tees penned a farewell to their brothers in the faith 
who remained in England. Their noble letter con- 
cludes thus : " Wishing our heads and hearts may 
be as fountains of tears for your everlasting wel- 
fare, when we shall be in our poor cottages in the 
wilderness, overshadowed by the spirit of supplica- 
tion, through the manifold necessities and tribula- 
tions which may not altogether unexpectedly, nor, 
we hope, unprofitably, befall us, we shall ever rest 
assured friends and brethren."! 

This done, all was done ; then, in the early days 
of April, favored by the breath of budding spring — 
fit season in which to sail — the flotilla lifted anchor 
and left Yarmouth, where the feet of these Pilgrims 
pressed the soil of their dear England for the last 
time.§ " Sadness was in their hearts, and tears 
dimmed their eyes, for they loved the land of their 
fathers ; they could not forget the tender associa- 
tions of youth, nor the holier associations of man- 
hood, when leaving it forever. But ' as the hart 

~ Hist, of the Result of the American Colonies, vol. 1, p. 58. 
t Wiuthrop's Diary. 

I This address is said to have been drawn by Mr. White. Pal- 
frey. . ^ ElUot. 



THE AEBELLA. 285 

panleth for the water-brook,' so their souls longed 
for Liberty and God, and they went out full of 
hope. With a fair wind they passed the Needles, 
St. Albans, Portland, Dartmouth, and the Eddy- 
stone, with its fiery eye, watching for ships over the 
broad sea. The Lizard, and at last the Scilly Isl- 
ands disappeared, went down day by day in the 
blue distance, and were left with the past, till, on 
Sunday, the lltli of April, 1630, the little fleet stood 
out bravely into the stormy Atlantic."* 

* Elliot, 



286 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE ARRIVAL. 

" Here the architect 
Did not with curious care a pile erect 
Of carved marble touch, or porphyry, 
But built for God and hospitality. " 

Caeew. 

Nine weeks tlie "Arbella" tossed on tlie Atlan- 
tic ; then the lookout descried tlie New England 
coast-line, and shouted, "Land ho !" "About four 
in the morning," was Winthrop's entry in his diary 
under date of June 12th, " we neared our port, and 
shot off two pieces of ordnance.""-'' A little later, 
Endicott entered a shallop and was rowed out to 
the incoming ship.t Greeting the new governor 
cordially, he at once conducted him to Salem, where 
all " supped on a good venison pastry." 

Winthrop found disease stalking among the set- 
tlers, and provisions nearly spent ; but all were 
hopeful, though the winter had been hard.| The 
stores he brought were not unwelcome, but these 
were not more heartily received than were those 
who brought them ; for pioneer life brings out hos- 
pitality and good fellowship ; and besides, these 
men had common hopes and fears, and were united 
in faith and practice. 

Winthrop's Diary, p. 31. t Ibid. 



' vvintnrops JJiary, p. ai. 
X Ibid., Palfrey. Bancroft. 



THE AREIVAL. 287 

The governor seems not to have been quite sat- 
isfied with Salem as a definitive settlement; for, 
pausing there but a week to recruit after the tedious 
voyage, he pushed on in search of another place to 
" sit down."* Sailing up a bay " made by a great 
number of islands, whose high clifi's shoulder out 
the sea," the explorers finally decided upon a spot 
on the banks of Charles river, and a settlement was 
commenced where Cambridge now stands. t 

Busy days followed. Land was allotted, hunt- 
ing parties were sent out ; Indians were chatted 
with; and thanksgivings for the past and prayers 
for the future were offered. J But, enfeebled by 
fevers and enervated by the scurvy, while the de- 
ceitful river and the marshy ground in its vicinity 
bred contagious and miasmal vapors to enshroud 
them nightly, the emigrants made little progress in 
their most important work, the erection of a town. 

Daily the sickness increased, and it haunted 
Salem as well as infant Cambridge. In August 
there was a large mortality; but September was 
the most dreary month. Francis Higginson, who 
had been for some time slowly wasting away with 
a hectic fever, died in this sad autumn ;§ but " in 
the hour of his death the future prosperity of New 
England and the coming glories of its many churches 
floated in cheerful visions before his eyes."|| Then 

* Wiuthrop's Journal, p. 32. 

■j- Dudley's letter to the countess of Lincoln, cited in Hutchin- 
son. J Hubbard, Mass. Col. Eec, Archseol. Am. 
§ Ibid. II Bancroft, vol. 1. p. 350. 



283 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

death struck anotlier shining mark. The Lady Ar- 
bella Johnson's fragile frame, coming " from a par- 
adise of plenty and pleasure into a wilderness of 
wants,"* succumbed shortly to the dread epidemic, f 
to the infinite sorrow of her loving friends. Her 
death broke the heart of her devoted husband. His 
sorrow was too full for utterance ; or he might have 
hymned it in that verse of Dr. Watts, so pregnant 
with tenderness and pathos : 

" I was all love, and slie was all delight ; 
Let me run back to seasons past ; 
All! flowery daj^s when first she charmed my sight, — 
But roses will not always last." 

Isaac Johnson survived the beautiful victim but 

a few weeks,:]: then he followed her to immortality 

through the grave. 

"He tried 
To live without her, liked it not, and died," 

said Mather, quaintly. § Winthrop, through his 
tears, wrote his assistant's epitaph : " He was a 
holy man and wise, and died in sweet peace."|l 

And now the mortality was fearful. Eighty of 
Endicott's colonists had been buried ere the coming 
of Winthrop fH in the summer and autumn succeed- 
ing his arrival over two hundred died,"* Death 
reaped its hecatombs and battened on corpses. The 
Pilgrims wailed out their grief in God's ear, and 

* Hubbard, p. 133. f I^iitl- Prince, Winthrop. 

t Ibid. § Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 77. 

II Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 34. 

If Palfrey, Bancroft, Archseol. Am. 

"* Ibid. Mass. Hist. Col. 



THE AEKIVAL. 289 

kept fasts and appointed days of humiliation. But 
He "who doeth all things well" had his own pur- 
pose to subserve, and his hand was not stayed from 
smiting till the chill December skies mantled the 
earth with snow.* 

Early in September the colonists determined to 
desert the pestilential river banks; a few went back 
to Salem, some paused at Charleston; others, led 
by Winthrop, planted themselves on that neck of 
land which is now called Boston. f 

Ere long this peninsula came to be thought the 
fittest site for the erection of a colonial capital, and 
the 17tli of September, 1630, was formally set apart 
as the date of its settlement.:]: The spot was then 
called S]iaiomut,% and it was picturesquely seated on 
a surface which swelled into rising grounds of con- 
siderable height, which have since become famous 
as Copp's hill, Fort hill, and Beacon hill.ll Rome 
sits upon seven hills; Boston is a trimountain city. 

Why was it called Boston ? Because Boston in 
England, a prominent town in Lincolnshire, some 
five score miles north of London, had played no in- 
considerable part in the drama of this colonization, 
giving to the enterprise some of its chiefest pillars, 
among others, Dudley, and Bellingham, and Lev- 
erett, and Coddington.lF The grateful Pilgrims 
thought that they owed the old English city a rec- 

« Dvidley's Letter to the Countess of Liucoln. Prince's Cliro- 
nology. t Winthrop's Hist, of New England. Hutchinson, 

t Ibid. § Shawmut, or the Settlement of Boston, p. 2. 

II Drake's Hist, of Boston. IT Ibid. Elliot. 

Pilgrim Fathers. 23 



290 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

ognition and a tribute ; so tliey gave to their capital 
the familiar name of Boston.* 

Sliawmut had an occupant previous to its hasty 
adoption by the deserters from Cambridge. Wilham 
Blackstone, who had come over with Endicott, found 
himself cramped even in sparsely-settled Salem ; so 
he pushed on to Shawmut neck and became sole 
proprietor of the whole peninsula, which was after- 
wards bought of him. Here he lived ten years, and 
saw the foundations of society laid. He was an 
eccentric character ; and though an ordained cler- 
gyman of the English church, he had Puritan pro- 
clivities. As he had been pinched at home by con- 
formity laws, he had exiled himself that he might 
secure elbow-room for his sentiments. But he loved 
liberty so well that he never would unite with the New 
England church. " No, no," he always replied, when 
solicited to do so, "I came from England because I 
did not like the lord-bishops; and I cannot join you, 
because I would not be under the lord brethren. "t 

■"' Drake's Hist, of Boston. Elliot. 

f "Blackstone retained nothing in America of Lis ministerial 
character but his canonical coat. He devoted himself to the cul- 
tivation of the six or seven acres of laud which he retained in his 
possession, and planted, it is said, the first orchard of apple-trees 
in New England. He left Boston because he was annoyed by its 
strict sectarian laws. Banishing himself again to the wilderness, 
he settled in a place now called Cumberland, on the banks of the 
Pawtucket river. Here he built a house in the midst of a park, 
planted an orchard near it, and divided his time between study 
and labor. He called his retreat " Studj^ Hill," and resided there 
until his death in May, 1675. 

" He was a man of a kind and benevolent heart ; and when he 
went to Providence to preach, as he did occasionally, notwithstand- 



THE AEEIVAL. 291 

The Pilgrims went to work in Boston with a 
will. Winter impended; a shelter must be provi- 
ded against the December sleet and the chilly 
braw. But the task was hard; the vis.inertice of 
nature was to be overcome ; and, without tools, 
carts, or experienced joiners, all hands began to 
realize that the carpenter was not inferior to the 
priest or the poet.* 

Some few grew discouraged. Of the seven hun- 
dred whom Winthrop brought out, ninety went back 
to England, t But this gap was soon closed by fresh 
arrivals. Quite a fleet lay moored in Massachusetts 
bay ; from Beacon hill seventeen ships might have 
been counted, all of which came in 1630 ;X and 
these had disgorged some fifteen hundred earnest, 
devout emigrants, "the best" that Britain could 
produce. § 

As a body, the Pilgrims were full of courage, 
and their faith at all times bubbled over into song 
or into prayer. " We here enjoy God and Jesus 
Christ," wrote Winthrop to his wife, whom sickness 
had detained in England, " and is not that enough ? 
I thank God I like so well to be here as not to 

ing his disagreement in opinion with Roger Williams, he woiild 
carry -with him some beautiful apples as a present to the children, 
who had never seen such fruit before. Indeed, the kind called 
Yellow Sweetings were first produced in his orchard ; and the 
older inhabitants, who had seen apples in England, had never be- 
fore seen that sort. '" Shawmut, or the Settlement of Boston, p. 27. 

* EUiot, vol, 1, p. 152. 

t Bancroft, p. 359. Palfrey, vol. 1. p. 313. 

t Hutchinson, Prince, Hubbard. 

§ Ibid. Charlestown Records. 



292 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

repent coming. I would not have altered my course, 
though I had foreseen all these afflictions. I never 
had more content of mind."* 

Before such a spirit — the right spirit — all obsta- 
cles were certain to succumb. It was sure to 

' ' sway the future, 



While God stood behind the shadow, 
Keeping watch above his own." 

* Mass, Col. Rec, Bancroft. 



THE CHARTER POLITY. 293 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE CHAETEE POLITY. 

"And then we'll raise, on these wild shores, 
A stnictiire of wise government, and show 
In our New World a glorious spectacle 
Of social order. " 

Mks. Hale's Ormond Grosvenor. 

The fundamental law of the colonies of Massa- 
cliusetts Bay was the charter, which bore the crown 
seal. The old parchment contained a permit and a 
fiat. It gave the corporation the right to enlarge or 
decrease its numbers at its option, and to establish 
the terms on which new members should be admit- 
ted to its franchises. It decreed that the governor 
and his assistants should be elected by the suffrages 
of the Company at large. Every freeman, as the 
members of the corporation were called, was enti- 
tled to vote.""' 

On the 3d of August, 1630, at Charlestown, "Win- 
throp convened his assistants, and held the first 
court under the transferred charter. f It was the 
earliest baby-cry of the provincial government. 
Administrative functions were at once assumed. 
Measures were initiated which looked to the sup- 
port of ministers; the question of wages was ad- 
justed; and an order was issued for the arrest of 

* Bancroft, Story, Palfrey. See the Charter, in Massachusetts 
Hist. Col. -j- Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard. 



'294 THE PILGKIM FATHEES. 

Thomas Morton,* who, through the carelessness of 
Allerton, the Plymouth agent, had returned to New 
England, and once more "hied to his old nest" at 
Merry-mount, only to renew his godless pranks.t 

" Such was the first colonial legislation, and 
such the first legislative bod3^ No heralds, no 
wigs, no cannon, no gilding, were necessary to im- 
pose upon the senses or give majesty and authority 
to law." 

Two months later,! ^ general assembly of the 
freemen of the colony was convened at Boston.§ 
In the Assembly the charter vested the fundamen- 
tal legislative authority.!! It was the colonial Par- 
liament. At this session more than a hundred 
planters were admitted to the franchises of the 
corporation;! and since this accession increased 
the preexisting inconvenience of gathering the 
whole Company for purposes of legislation, the 
freemen ceded to the governor and his assistants 
the whole political power, reserving only the right 
to supply vacancies.** The tenure of office was 
unlimited ;tt perhaps it was tacitly understood to 
be, as in the old English law, " during good beha- 
vior" — quamdiu se hene gessermf. Eor a season the 
government was an elective aristocracy. It was 
oligarchical, like that of Venice. 

This endured but little more than a twelve- 

* See chap. 19, pp. 245 et seq. 

f- Bradford, Winthrop, Hubbard. J On the 19th of Oct. 
§ Winthrop, Hutchinson. || See the charter. 

If Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 359. ** Ibid. ff Ibid., p. 360. 



THE CHARTER POLITY. 295 

month. In May, 1631, tlie freemen met again, 
" after corn was set," and revoked a part of the 
authority of which they had been too lavish. The 
government was curbed by a reservation to the 
commons of the right to make such annual changes 
as the majority should desire.* 

" At tliis same time a law was established preg- 
nant with evil, and with good. ' To the end that 
the body of the commons may be preserved of hon- 
est and good men' — so runs the old text — 'it is 
ordered and agreed that, for the time to come, no 
man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body 
politic but such as are members of some of the 
churches within the corporate limit.' This rule 
stood unchanged until after the Restoration. Thus 
was the elective franchise narrowed. The polity 
was a sort of theocracy; God himself, sj)eaking 
through the lips of his elect, was to govern his 
people. An aristocracy "was founded ; but not on 
Avealth, or blood, or rank. The servant, the bond- 
man, might be a member of the church, and there- 
fore a freeman of the Company. Other states have 
limited the possession of political rights to the opu- 
lent, to freeholders, to the first-born. The colonists 
of Massachusetts, scrupulously refusing to the cler- 
gy the least shadow of political power, established 
the reign of the visible church, a commonwealth of 
the chosen people in covenant with God."t 

But we must not let the boldness and presump- 

* Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 3G0. 

t Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 360, 361. 



296 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

tion of tliis act blind us to its inconsistency and its 
evil tendency. If men might enjoy the franchise 
only by uniting with the church, ambitious men, 
wicked men, might become hypocrites, that they 
might get power. When church-membership be- 
came the road to political authority, there was dan- 
ger that audacious and unchastened interlopers 
might usurp the government, as they did in Eng- 
land under Whitgift, and Williams, and Laud, 

This law was an inconsistency, because it was a 
radical departure from the primal principle of Mas- 
sachusetts ecclesiasticism, the separation of church 
and state, and the complete independence of the 
individual churches.* Now it was affirmed that the 
state must unfold within the church.t Indeed, a 
kind of state church Avas developed.:}: This is evi- 
dent from two facts. The clergy were to be sup- 
ported, not merely by the contributions of actual 
church-members, but it was decreed that " all who 
are instructed in the word of God must contribute 
for those by whom they are taught in all good 
things. "§ The government was empowered to curb 
ecclesiastical errorists ; and " if any church should 
grow schismatical, rending itself from the com- 
munion of other churches, or should walk incor- 
rigibly and obstinately in any corrupt way, con- 
trary to the word of God, in such case the civil 

* Uhden's New Eng. Theocracy, j). 68. Dexter's Congrega- 
tionalism. 

t Ibid., p. 71. t Ibid., Bancroft 

§ Ibid. Vide Cambridge Platform. 



THE CHAETEE POLITY. 297 

magistrate was directed to put forth his coercive 
power."* 

Thus individual rehgious independence, child of 
the Protestant principle, was strangled. Our fa- 
thers honestly erred. Purity of religious worship 
was their goal ; and in order to that, they desired 
the unclogged enjoyment of what they esteemed the 
divinely-appointed means of grace. Their model 
was the Mosaic code. They did not remember 
that God had superseded it by a new dispensa- 
tion. 

The Pilgrims were wise and devout men, and 
in most respects they were a century in advance of 
their generation ; but as a body, they did not un- 
derstand the golden rule of toleration. Divorcing 
church and state in theory, in practice they mar- 
ried them. 

" It is folly," remarks an English scholar "who 
has himself rehearsed the story of the Pilgrims, 
" for either British or American encomiasts to seek 
to disguise this fact. It is on record. All may 
read it. Impartial history is compelled to acknowl- 
edge that very few, even of the foremost thinkers 
and moralists of the seventeenth century, had any 
just conception of that grand principle, the out- 
growth of the New Testament, which acknowledges 
God as the sole Judge of human faith, and inter- 
feres with opinions or creeds only when they run to 

* Vide the Cambridge Platform, lG-18. "This Confession of 
Faith belongs, indeed, to a later period, but it expresses through- 
out the principles of the early colonists unchanged. " Uhden, p. 68. 
13* 



298 THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 

seed in riot, and develope consequences inimical to 
social virtue and political order."* 

But notwithstanding tlie fact that the Pilgrims 
erected a theocracy, and by conferring upon the 
civil arm jurisdiction in religion, opened the way 
to unjust persecution, it is also true that they 
"builded better than they knew;" for the princi- 
ples they professed eventually forced their children 
to a broader platform. They secured the future. 
They were the acorn; let the nineteenth century 
be the oak. 

" For we doubt not, through the ages 
One increasing purpose runs ; 
And the thoughts of men are widened 
With the process of the suns. " 

« Wilson's Pilgrim Fathers, pp. 487, 488. 



INCIDENTS. 299 



CHAPTEK XXV. 

INCIDENTS. 

"He cometli unto you •with a tale which holdeth 
Children from play and old men from the chimney-corner. " 

Sir Philip Sidney. 

The life of the Pilgrim Fathers in these first 
years of their settlement was full of incident. They 
could not assent to Solomon's dictum., that " there 
is nothing new under the sun." Here they found 
a new heaven and a new earth ; all things were 
strange. Their only acquaintance in the western 
wilds was God ; and they never wearied of investi- 
gation. Their first move, after thanking God for 
preservation and a safe voyage, was to explore. 
They loved to "guess" out enigmas. They were 
always analyzing the soil, and speculating on the 
prospects of storms, and dickering with the Indians. 
From the homeliest and most commonplace circum- 
stances, they did not disdain to gather wisdom or 
" to point a moral and adorn a tale." They had a 
teachable spirit, and were ardent students in the 
school of nature. 

The unbroken forest especially possessed an 
unfading charm in their eyes. They were fasci- 
nated both by its freedom and its vastness ; for in 
England, whatever patches of wood existed were 
enclosed in the parks of the exclusive nobles, and a 



300 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

bitter code of game-laws barred all entrance. But 
while a source of pleasure, it was also often a source 
of anxiety. 

One pleasant afternoon Wintbrop took bis gun 
and strolled into tbe woods for a sbort walk. He 
lost bis way, and nigbt overtook bim. Kindling a 
fire, be prepared to " camp out." He spent tbe 
bours till dawn in walking up and down and " sing- 
ing jisalms." Next morning be readied borne safely, 
mucb to tbe deligbt of bis neigbbors, wbo bad 
passed tbe entire nigbt in tbe forest, ballooing and 
sbooting off guns, in tbe hope tbat tbe lost governor 
migbt bear tbem.* 

On anotber occasion one of tbe settlers lost a 
calf. Hearing tbe wolves bowl in tbe nigbt, be got 
up and sbot off bis musket several times in rapid 
succession, to frigbten tbem away. Tbe wind car- 
ried tbe report to all the settlements ; every one 
was aroused ; drums were beaten ; messengers were 
despatched to spread tbe alarm ; every bush was 
taken for an Indian. " But next morning the calf 
was found unharmed, tbe wolves and tbe colonists 
being Avell frightened. The former had disap- 
peared, and the latter went ' merrily to breakfast,' 
esteeming their alarm a good joke, and quaintly 
rallying one another on the ' great fear that bad 
come upon them, making all their bones to shake.' "t 
But their fright was not foolish ; it was bred of cau- 
tion and a knowledge of their situation. They re- 
membered with old Ben Johnson, that 

« "Wiuthrop's Journal, f Elliott, vol. 1, pp. 155, 156. 



INCIDENTS. 301 

" A valiant man 
Ought not to undergo or tempt a danger, 
But worthily, and by selected ways ; 
He undertakes by reason, not by chance." 

At Plymouth the Pilgrims had been longer in 
America, and the first flush of initial excitement 
had abated. The pulse-beat there was calmer, for 
they were more learned in woodcraft than the later 
comers. Yet even at Plymouth the jog-trot of events 
was occasionally broken. There is a traditionary 
anecdote, illustrative of the danger of one gentle- 
man's commissioning another to do his wooing for 
him, which doubtless created an unwonted stir in 
the sedate old town at the time. It seems that 
Miles Standish had buried his wife some time after 
his arrival in New England ; on which he thus com- 
muned with himself: 

" ''Tis not good for a man to be alone, say the Scriptures. 
This I have said before ; and again and again I repeat it ; 
Every hour in the day I think it, and feel it, and say it. 
Since Kose Standish died, my life has been weary and dreary. 
Sick at heart have I been, beyond the healing of friendship.'" 

So Standish resolved to wed again. He had 
already taken a fancy to Miss Priscilla Mullins, 
one of the sweetest of the Puritan maidens ; and 
he said: 

" ' Oft in my lonely hours have I thought of this maiden, Priscilla. 
She is alone in the world. Her father, and mother, and brother, 
Died in the winter together. I saw her going and coming, 
Now to the grave of the dead, and now to the bed of the dj'ing; 
Patient, courageous, and strong, and said to myself, that if ever 
There were angels on earth, as there are angels in heaven, 



B02 THE PILGEIM FATHEBS. 

Two have I seen and known ; and the angel whose name is Pris- 

cilla 
Holds in my desolate life the jolace which the other abandoned. ' 

Therefore the captain resolved to woo her. But, 

"Being a coward in this, though valiant enough for the most part," 

he decided to do it bj prosy ; so he selected John 
Alden, his secretary — 

'• Fair-haired, azure-eyed, with delicate Saxon complexion, 
Having the dew of youth, and the beauty thereof, as the cap- 
tives 
Whom St. Gregory saw, and exclaimed, ' Not Angles, but angels.' 
Youngest of all was he of the men who came in the May- 
flower." 

" John," said he, 

" ' Go to the damsel Priscilla, the loveliest maiden of Plymouth ; 

Say that the blunt old cajDtain, a man not of words, but of ac- 
tions, 

Offers his hand and heart — the hand and heart of a soldier. 

You, who are bred as a scholar, can say it in elegant language. 

Such as you read m your books of the pleadings and wooings of 
lovers ; 

Such as you think best adapted to win the heart of a maiden.' " 

Now it happened that poor John Alden was 
himself enamoured of the lovely Puritan maiden, 
and he listened to this request aghast. But Stan- 
dish, unaware of this fact, urged the unwelcome 
mission on his blushing scribe, and demanded his 
acceptance of it in the name of friendship. Alden 
determined to perform the mission, and to do it 
faithfully; so he hied him through the forest to 
Priscilla's dwelling. Entering without ado, he at 
once broached the subject, and flung forth a glow- 
ing record of his master's virtues. Priscilla heard 



INCIDENTS. 303 

him aAvliile in ominous silence, and then interrupted 
him hj this query : 

" ' If the great captain of Plymotith is so very eager to wed me, 
Why does he not come himself, and take the trouble to woo me? 
If I am not worth the wooing, I surely am not worth the win- 
ning.'" 

Alden tried to explain and smooth the matter ; 

'But as he warmed and glowed in his simple and eloquent lan- 
guage. 
Quite forgetful of self, and full of praise of his rival, 
Ai'chly the maiden smiled, and, ■with eyes ovei-running with 

laughter. 
Said in a tremulous yoice, ' Why do n't you speak for yourself, 
John Y " 

The bewildered but happy secretary at once 
took the hint. Returning to Standish, he reported 
his failure. Then he did " speak for himself," and 
to such purpose that he was soon married. There 
were no horses in the wilderness ; so after the nup- 
tials, 

"Alden, the thoughtful, the careful, so happj^ so proud of Pris- 

cilla, 
Brought out a snow-white bull, obeying the hand of his master, 
Led by a cord that was tied to an iron ring in its nostrils. 
Covered with crimson cloth, and a cushion placed for a saddle. 
She should not walk, he said, through the dust and heat of the 

noonday ; 
Nay, she should ride like a qtieen, not plod along like a peasant. 
Somewhat alarmed at first, but reassured by the others, 
Placing her hand on the cushion, her foot in the hand of her 

husband, 
Gayly, with joyous laugh, Priscilla mounted her palfrey. 
Like a picture it seemed of the primitive, pastoral ages. 
Fresh with the youth of the world, and recalling Eebecca and 

Isaac ; 
Old. and yet ever new, and simple and beautiful always, 



304: THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

Love immortal and young, iu the endless succession of lovers. 
So through the Plymouth woods passed onward the bridal pro- 
cession."* 

But sometimes events of nider and less joyous 
significance came to stir a ri2:)ple on the j)lacid sea 
of frontier life. Even among these Pilgrims there 
were laws to be enforced and bad men to be curbed. 
Thomas Morton was one. This irrepressible tor- 
ment was once more engaged at "Merry Mount" 
in selling guns and "fire-water" to the Indians; 
nor did he hesitate to " shoot hail-shot into them," 
because they refused to bring him a canoe in which 
to cross the river. He was ajjprehended on their 
complaint, and because he " discredited the whites." 
His den was burned in the presence of the natives 
whom he had maltreated ; and he himself, after be- 
ing for a while " set in the bilboes," was sent once 
more a prisoner to England.! 

This occurred at Boston. At Plymouth a still 
more emphatic and sombre scene was enacted. 
John Billington, always a pest, of whom Bradford 
had said, " He is a knave, and so will live and die,":}: 
was convicted of wilful murder. Conference was 
held with the most judicious men of Massachusetts 
Bay as to the disposition to be made of him. Win- 
throp and the rest favored his execution, basing the 
right to inflict that penalty, not so much on the Eng- 
lish common law as on the code of Moses: "Whoso 

* Longfellow's Courtship of Miles Standish. See, also, Banvard 
and Thatcher. 

f Elliot, vol. 1, Tp. 151. Winthrop, Bradford, Prince. 
X Ibid., p. 68. Banvard, Thatcher, Morton. 



INCIDENTS. 305 

slieddeth man's blood, by man shall liis blood be 
slied."'^ Under this decision Billington was hung; 
and this was the first capital punishment ever in- 
flicted in New England. 

These magisterial rigors did not suffice to quell 
the evil-doers; for shortly afterwards Philip Rad- 
cliff ventured to revile the "powers that be;" nor 
did he scruple to asperse the colonial churches. 
For this misdemeanor he was condemned to lose 
his ears. This did not subdue him ; so he was 
v;hip23ed and banished. All which processes did 
not serve to increase his affection for the Pilgrims. 
Landing in England, he did them what mischief he 
could.t 

Then came another rogue. This was Sir Chris- 
topher Gardiner, " one of those mysterious visitors 
whose appearance in remote settlements so easily 
stimulates the imaginations of men of more staid 
habits and better mutual acquaintance. ":|: It was 
not known who he was, nor whence he came, nor 
why. It has been conjectured that he was a spy 
of Sir Ferdinand Gorges and other foes of Puritan- 
ism in England.§ Bradford says, " He came into 
these parts on pretence of forsaking the world, and 
to live a private life in a godly course. He had 
been a great traveller, was a Knight of the Holy 
Sepulchre, and a relative of that Gardiner who was 
so bitter a persecutor under " Bloody Mary." Now 

* Elliott, vol. 1, p. G8. Banvard, Thatcher, Morton. This was 
in 1630. I Winthrop's Journal. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 329. § Ibid. 



306 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

he avowed himself penitent for his past ill life, 
offered to join the churches here, and said he was 
willing to apply himself to any employment."* 

Soon, however, he fell under suspicion at Mas- 
sachusetts Bay. He was suspected of living in 
concubinage with " a comely young woman whom 
he had brought over with him," and whom he 
called his cousin, " after the Italian manner." Be- 
ing cited to answer these charges, he decamped. 
Soon Winthrop received letters which showed that 
this "knight" had "two wives living in London."t 
An order was issued for his apprehension. Event- 
ually he took refuge at Plymouth. Here he chanced 
to drop his diary: and in this was found a "memo- 
rial showing Avhat day he was reconciled to the 
pope and the church of Eome, and in what univer- 
sity he took his scapula and such and such de- 
grees. "| So Bradford sent the unmasked Jesuit, 
with the unfortunate diary, to 'Winthrop;§ who, in 
his turn, presently sent him back " to the two wives 
in Old England, that they might search him fur- 
ther."ll On reaching the island, he was not re- 
strained of his liberty, but roaming at large, soon 
found out the enemies of the colonies ; and he, with 
Eadcliff, actively engaged in intrigues to its preju- 
dice.TT 

"So difficult was it," observes ElHot, "to get 
away from the wickedness of Satan, who, even in this 

* Bradford, p. 294. f Winthrop's Journal. 

t Bradford, p. 295. ' § Ibid. 

II Winthrop's Journal. H Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 330. 



INCIDENTS. 307 

virgin land, and among these godlv Puritans, would 
thrust himself in where his company was in no wa}^ 
"wanted. But now one more rascal was exported 
and sent home, where, with his two wives and his 
' Italian manner,' and his popery, he would not poi- 
son Massachusetts."'^ 

Yet, spite of these isolated instances of riot, 
insubordination, and disturbance, the Puritan set- 
tlements were in the main models of industry, sobri- 
ety, and good order. " I have read," says Cotton 
Mather, " a printed sermon which was preached 
before ' both Houses of Parliament, the lord-mayor 
and aldermen of London, and the Westminster as- 
sembly of divines,' the greatest audience then in the 
world ; and in that sermon the preacher had this 
passage : ' I have lived in a country where, in seven 
years, I never saw a beggar, nor heard an oath, nor 
looked upon a drunkard.' That Utopia was New 
England."t Mather adds sadly : " But they who 
go hence now must tell another story. "| 

What was the secret of such prosperity ? When 
Demosthenes was asked what it was that so long 
preserved Athens in a flourishing state, he replied, 
" The orators are men of learning and wisdom ; the 
magistrates do justice ; the citizens are quiet, and 
the laws are kept among them an."§ 'T was a glo- 
rious record for the immortal city, and the same 
secret gave the settlements of the Pilgrim fathers 
substantial peace and happy order. 

* Elliot, vol. 1, ID. 155. t Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 103. 

t Ibid., p. 97. § Orations, N. Y., 1855. 



308 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

Wintliroj) relates that once "at Watertown there 
was, in the view of divers witnesses, a great combat 
betwixt a mouse and a snake; and, after a long 
fight, the mouse prevailed and killed the snake. 
The pastor of Boston, Mr. Wilson, a very sincere, 
holy man, hearing of it, gave this interpretation: 
the mouse was a poor contemptible people, brought 
by God hither, who should overcome Satan here, 
and dispossess him of his kingdom. Upon the same 
occasion he added : ' I dreamed before coming to 
this country, that I was here and saw a church rise 
out of the earth, which gradually expanded into a 
colossal shape' — as pray God ours may,"* 

Winthrop's prayer seemed even then in the way 
to exact fulfilment. Many earnest, devoted Pilgrims, 
continued to pour into New England. In 1631, 
Eliot, the famous apostle to the Indians, landed 
at Salem.t Full of love and full of hojoe, he soon 
entered upon those labors which have immortalized 
his name on earth, and enrolled it on the heavenly 
records as a teacher and benefactor of his race.| 

* Wiuthrop's Hist., vol. 1, p. 97. f Ibid., p. 76. 

:]; Eliot spent the first years of his transatlantic life as a jDreacher 
at Koxbury. Here he was engaged with Weld and Richard Mather 
in compiling the first book published in New England — "The 
Psalms in Metre" — which ajipeared in 1640. In 1645, he became 
deeply interested in the work of evangelizing the Indians, " those 
ruins of mankind." Into this labor he threw his whole heart ; and 
he never relinquished it until God called him home ; for he be- 
lieved with the psalmist, that Jehovah was perpetually saying, 
" Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance." 

Going into the wilderness, he preached his first Indian sermon 
in October, 1646, in a wigwam at Nonantum, near Watertown. He 
had already familiarized himself with the aboriginal languages ; 



INCIDENTS. 309 

A little earlier, Roger Williams was wafted to these 
shores, where, in his May of youth, he found a glo- 
rions destiny awaited him.* 

and since the New England tribes — loosely estimated at a united 
membersliip of forty thousand — were a part of the Algonquin race, 
whose tongues were similar, this acquisition was not as difficult as 
it might seem. Eliot had the happiness to witness several con- 
versions as the result of his first essay ; and from that moment 
he worked on with a resolution and self-abnegation above all 
earthly praise. The "Apostle," as he soon came to be called, at 
once commenced several translations. Two catechisms were done 
into the Indian dialects. A primer, the Psalms, and Baxter's Call, 
followed ; and finally, an Indian Bible, a marvellous monument of 
patience, industry, and faith, appeared in 1663. Of course, this 
work necessitated money. Eliot appealed for aid. The English 
Parliament granted, in 16-±9, a special sum for the promotion of the 
gospel among the aborigines. Large collections were made through- 
out England for the same purpose ; and even infant Boston con- 
tributed twenty-five hundred dollars in its poverty. The zeal of 
Eliot and the funds of the godlj^ were not in vain expended. A 
number of Indians were hopefuUy converted, and these were colo- 
nized into separate towns. The chief seat of the ' ' praying Indi- 
ans" was Natick, settled by them in 1651. There Eliot erected 
his headquarters ; and he gave his converts " the same advice as 
. to government that Jethro gave to Moses ; so they assembled, and 
chose their rvilers of hundreds, fifties, and tens, and proclaimed, 
'that God should rule over them.'" Their houses were Indian 
cabins, built of bark, except the meeting-house, which was fash- 
ioned after the churches of the pale-faces. In this latter building 
Eliot had a bed and a room. Natick then contained one huudi'ed 
and fiftj^-two persons. Eliot saw that civilization was necessary for 
his dusky proteges, both as a bond of union and as a fulcrum for his 
gospel lever. He knew also that responsibility educates. So he 
was careful to induct into offices of honor and responsibility those 
of his converts who seemed the most trusty, energetic, and intelli- 
gent. Such commissions were highly esteemed by the Indians, 
and sometimes they performed their official duty with amusing for- 
mality. On one occasion, a native magistrate named Hihoudi, 

« Ibid., p. 49. He came February 11, 1630. 



31(T THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

The Pilgrims made the best of every thing — saw 
only the good of the land. Even the climate of 
New England did not lack encomiasts. Wood had 

issued the following warrant, directed to an Indian constable : " I, 
Hihoudi, yon, Peter Waterman. Jeremy Wisket, — qtiick you take 
him, fast you hold him, straight you bring him before me. Hi- 
hoiidi ! " 

Natick was a nucleus settlement. Soon a number of supple- 
mentary colonies were grouped about it, and these embraced, some 
sixty, some seventy, some eighty, "praying Indians," all provided 
with churches, schools, and the riide initial apparatus of civiliza- 
tion. In 1674, there were eleven hundred Christian Indians who 
were possessed of fixed homes within the jui-isdictioh of Massachu- 
setts. And Eliot enumerated twenty-five hundred more to Boyle, 
as settled in Plymouth, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. "* The 
usual exercises were praying, reading the Bible, and preaching — 
sometimes by a white teacher, sometimes by a native missionary. 
Then all united in singing ; and we are told that ' ' sundry could 
manage to do so very well." After this, some were catechized. 
Then, says Eliot, "if there was any act of piiblic discipline — as 
divers times .there was, since ignorance and partial barbarism made 
many stumblers— the offender was called forth, exhorted to give 
glory to God, and urged to confess his sins." King Philip's war 
partially paralyzed these efforts of Eliot and his compeers ; it rob- 
bed them of the sympathy of the whites, and roughened their path; 
but they persevered; and even after Eliot'.s decease, in 1690, God 
put it into the hearts of some to cany on his work, and efforts con- 
tinued to be made towards the evangelization of the natives as far 
down as the year 1754. At that time the Rev. Mr. Hawley was 
" set apart" for that special work, in the " Old South Church," in 
Boston, and Deacon Woodbridge and Jonathan Edwards were en- 
listed in the same good cause. Roger Williams had been an active 
co-worker with Eliot, and a little later the Mayhews gleaned their 
rich harvest at Martha's Vineyard. Indeed, the Mayhews were so 
successful that on the single little island where they labored, six 
meetings were held in as many different places evei-y Sabbath, and 
there were ten native preachers, who, according to the testimony 
of Thomas Mayhew, were of •' good knowledge and holy conversa- 
tion. " 

But the missionaries did not find it plain sailing. Besides the 



INCIDENTS. 311 

. been " carefully hatched," yet in England disease 
sapped his life. While in America, he wrote : 
" Scarce do I know what belongs to a day's sick- 
ness."* 

An English churchman, who had not Wood's 
motive for liking New England, saw with different 
eyes : " The transitions from heat to cold are short, 
sudden, and paralyzing. We are sometimes frying, 
and at others freezing ; and as some men die at their 
labor in the field of heat, so some in winter are fro- 
zen to death by the cold."f No doubt. 

" Oh, Vtho can hold a fire in his hand 
By thinking of the frosty Caucasus ?" 

The Puritans saw New England as the refuge of 
the godly, and looking at it through the mirage 
of sentiment, its sky rivalled that of Italy in soft 

incessant jealousy between the whites and the aborigines, they 
had to encounter the natural repugnance of the Indian to desert 
the blind faith of his fathers and accept the God and Saviour of 
the white men. Massasoit, spite of his friendship for the whites, 
lived and died a strict unbeliever. Philip, his son, was equally 
obstinate, saj'ing on one occasion, after listening to an exhortation 
from Eliot, and placing his hand on a button on the Apostle's coat : 
'' I care no more for the gospel than I care for that button." The 
Narragansetts went so far as to prohibit preaching within their 
borders. Yet still the missionaries went on, and, with God's bles- 
sing, they harvested many souls, long before good Bishop Berke- 
ley launched his noble but abortive scheme for the conversion of 
the red men. Those readers who are desirous of studying this 
subject in detail, are referred to Sparks' Life of Eliot ; Mayhew's 
Indian experiences ; ManseU's recent reprint at Albany of tracts 
concerning- Eliot's Indian missions ; R. Williams' Key ; Hubbard's 
Hist. ; Mather's Magnalia ; Gookiu, in Mass. Hist. Col., etc., etc. 

* Wood's New England Prospect, p. 4. 

t J. Macpherson's America Dissected, 1752. 



312 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

beauty. To the cliurcliman it seemed a rugged wil- 
derness in very deed. It was a difference of stand- 
point. 

But mild or severe, the Pilgrims loved this 
adopted mother on whose breast they lay, and their 
settlements began to increase in number. A brood 
of eight little toAvns, or toivnlets, now nestled under 
the wings of the Massachusetts charter ;* while 
Plymouth already began to think of equipping a 
new colouy,t and annexing the Connecticut. 

The western wilds were no longer tenantless, or 
what is equivalent to that, held only by prowling 
barbarians. The French, who had been hovering 
over the coast ever since their rout from L'Acadie, 
in 1613, by Sir Samuel Argall, had recently acquired 
Canada by purchase.:}: The wise statemanship of 
Eichelieu had bought from Charles I. — busy in a 
fatal attempt to enforce ceremonialism, 

"Rending the book in struggles for the binding," — 

one of the finest provinces in the known world for 
fishing, masts, harbors.§ Already the Latin prov- 
inces had begun to string a chain of citadels west- 
ward along the banks of the St. Lawrence and the 
borders of the lakes to the valley of the Mississippi, 

"toppling round the dreary west 

A loomin" bastion fringed with fire." 



* Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 323. These were Salem, Charlestown, Wa- 
tertown, Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mystic, and Saugus. 
t Bradford, p. 311. % EUiot, vol. 1, p. ■" 

§ Prince, Bancroft, Hutchinson. 



INCIDENTS. 313 

The Spaniard was in Florida.* Tlie Dutchman 
smoked Ms pipe on the banks of the Hudson. t Eng- 
lish adventurers held Virginia. | The Pilgrims had 
clutched New England. Labor was vocal on every 
hill-side ; the whole continent began to echo to the 
civiHzing stroke of the woodman's axe. 

* Bancroft, vol. 1, chap. 2. passim. 

f Brodhead's Hist, of New York. Dunlap. 

J Chalmers, Hening. 



ilgrira Fatliem. 14 



314 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 



CHAPTEE XXVI. 

THE ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 

" So work the honey-bees — 
Creatures that, by a rule of nature, teach 
The art of order to a peopled kingdom. 
They have a head and officers of sorts, 
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ; 
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ; 
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, 
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ; 
Which i^illage they with merry march bring home 
To the tent royal of their emperor, 
Who, busied in his tent, surveys 
The singing mason building roofs of gold ; 
The civil citizens kneading up the honey ; 
The poor mechanic porters crowding in 
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate ; 
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum, 
Delivering o'er to executors pale 
The lazy, yawning drone." 

Shakspeake's Henry V. 

From the year 1630 — before that, but more per- 
ceptibly after — the advancing march of civilization 
carried all before it in New England. There were, 
indeed, occasional oscillations in its career of tri- 
umph; but always, when its genius seemed to balk, 
it ended by bearing off a trophy. 

At Plymouth, all the social and religious forces 
had "settled down into fixed ways." Justice was 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATIOX. 315 

administered, order was preserved, education was 
provided for.* The old town began to prosper. 
The busy hum of men and the laughter of success- 
ful trade echoed through the streets ; and Bradford 
wrote, "Though the partners have been plunged 
into great engagements and oppressed with unjust 
debts, yet the Lord has prospered our trajfic so that 
our labor is not for naught. The people of this 
plantation begin to gi'ow in their outward estates, 
by reason of the flowing of many into the province, 
especially into the settlements on Massachusetts 
Bay; by which means corn and cattle have risen to 
a great price, whereby some are much enriched, 
while commodities gi'ow plentifuL"t 

As property and a sense of security increased, 
the Plymouth Pilgrims began to show a disposition 
to disperse, for the convenience of better pasturage 
and ampler farm-room. So the three hundred in- 
habitants, esteeming themselves crowded, separa- 
ted, and a new church and hamlet were planted on 
the north shore of the shallow harbor.:}: " The 
town in which all had lived very compactly till 
now," observes the old Plymouth governor some- 
what ruefully, " was left very thin by this move." 
In Bradford's eyes, it was the beginning of a move- 
ment pregnant with evil.§ He thought, somewhat 
plausibly, that strength and safety lay in the close 
union of the scattered colonists. Yet that idea was 
fatal to colonization, and bolder theorists deter- 

* Thatcher's Plymouth. f Bradford, pp. 255-310. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 336. § Bradford, p. 301, 



316 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

mined to educate communities by responsibility, 
the best of school-masters. They said, 

" Out of this nettle, clanger, we pluck this flower, safety. " 

For several years the church at Plymouth had 
enjoyed the ministrations of an ordained clergy- 
man. That Separatist, Mr. Smith, who had cross- 
ed the water with Higgiuson and Skelton in 1629, 
perceiving that he was looked upon with some sus- 
picion by his brother Pilgrims on account of his 
" come-outism," an aroma which they were not then 
prepared to exhale, went immediately to Nantas- 
ket, sojourning there "with some stragglers" for 
several months." One day a Plymouth boat hap- 
pened to touch at that port, whereupon Mr. Smith 
" earnestly besought the crew to give him and his, 
with such things as could be readily carried, pas- 
sage to Plymouth, as he had heard that there was 
likelihood that he might there find house-room until 
he could determine where to settle; for he said he 
was weary of the uncouth place in which he found 
himself, where his house was so poor that neither 
himself nor his goods could keep dry."t 

He was brought to Plymouth, where he " exer- 
cised his gifts" — which were rather "low"| — being 
" kindly entertained and sheltered," and finally 
" chosen into the ministry ;"§ so that Brewster 
once again found respite. A little later. Smith's 
labors and gifts were supplemented by Eoger Will- 

* Chap. 21, p. 264. t Bradford, p. 263. 

t Elliot, Tol. 1, p. 119. Young's Chronicles, Morton's Merao- 
rials, etc. § Bradford, p. 263. Morton. 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 317 

iams — wliy and Low long we shall in due time dis- 
cover. 

In 1632, an event of no little interest occurred. 
Governor Winthrop went to Plymouth to exchange 
fraternal greetings with Governor Bradford, and 
mutual inquiries of "What cheer?" were passed. 
Winthrop has related the incident. Let us open 
his record : " The governor of Massachusetts Bay, 
with Mr. Wilson, pastor of Boston, and some oth- 
ers, went aboard the ' Lion' on the 25th of October, 
and thence Captain Pierce carried then to Wes- 
sagusset, where is now a prosperous settlement of 
a graver sort than the old ones. The next morn- 
ing the governor and his company went on foot to 
Plymouth, and came tliither within the evening. 
The governor of Plymouth, Mr. William Bradford, 
a very discreet and grave man, with Elder Brew- 
ster and some others, came forth and met them 
without the town, and conducted them to the gov- 
ernor's house, where they were very kindly enter- 
tained, and feasted every day at several houses. 

" On the Lord's Day there was a sacrament, of 
which they partook ; and in the afternoon Mr. Roger 
WilUams, according to the Plymouth custom, pro- 
pounded a question, to which the pastor, Mr. Ealph 
Smith, spoke briefly; then Mr. Williams proiDhe- 
sied f' and after, the governor of Plymouth spoke 
to the question ; after him, the elder ; then some 
two or three more of the congregation. Then the 
elder desired the governor of Massachusetts Bay 

* The old form of expression for exhort or exj^ound. 



318 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

and Mr. Wilson to speak to it, which they did. 
"When this was done, Mr. Fuller, their surgeon, put 
the congregation in mind of their duty of contribu- 
tion; whereupon the governors and all the rest 
went down to the deacon's seat, and put into the 
box, and then returned. 

" On Wednesday, the 31st of October, at about 
five o'clock in the morning, the governor and his 
company came out of Plymouth; whose governor, 
pastor, elder, and others, accompanied them nearly 
half a mile in the dark. Lievitenant Holmes, one 
of their chiefest men, with two companions and 
Governor Bradford's mare, came along with them 
to a great swamp, about ten miles. When they 
came to the great river,^ they were carried over 
one by one by Luddam, their guide, as they had 
been when they came, the stream being very strong, 
and up to the crotch; so the governor called that 
passage 'Luddam's Ford.' Thence they came to 
a place called ' Hue's Cross.' The governor be- 
ing disj)leased at the name, because such things 
might hereafter give the papists occasion to say 
that their religion was first planted in these parts, 
changed the name, and called it 'Hue's Folly.' So 
they came that evening to Wessagussett, where 
they were bountifully entertained, as before; and 
the next day all came safe to Boston."t 

This was the first interchange of gubernatorial 
civilities ever known in America. It was certainly 

* Now called "North river," near Seitnate. Massachusetts 
Hist. Col. 4. f Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 108-111. 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 319 

unique. One governor lent the other his mare to 
ride home upon, gave him a guide on whose shoul- 
ders he could be ferried across a rapid stream, and 
entertained his guest bj beseeching him to " proph- 
esy" on the Sabbath, and by gently reminding him 
that the contribution-box Avas empty. 

Such was the homely, hearty, frank hospitality 
of the Pilgrim fathers over two hundred years ago. 
Such were the manners and customs of New Eng- 
land when Brewster "prophesied" and when Win- 
throp and Bradford governed. Looking back across 
two centuries, we smile ; but perhaps, with all its 
super-refinement, modern hospitality is no whit in 
advance of that which contented Winthrop, and of 
which it may be said, 

"There was no -ndnter in't ; an autumn 'twas, 
That grew the more by reaping." 

In this same year of Wintbrop's visit to Plym- 
outh, the Pilgrims had their first boundary quarrel 
with the French. The extent of Acadia to the west 
was long a subject of dispute.* The lands which 
bordered on the rival boundaries became a " deba- 
table" ground. Bradford and his coadjutors had 
erected a trading station on the Penobscot. This 
was now assaulted, and "despoiled of five hundred 
pounds worth of beaver-skins, besides a store of 
coats, rugs, blankets, biscuits ;" and insult was 
added to injury ; for the cavalier Frenchmen bade 
the tenants of the plundered post tell the English 

• Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 337. Hubbard, Prince. 



320 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

that " some gentlemen of the Isle of Kh^ had been 
there to leave their compliments."'^ 

This taunt was not instantly responded to. In- 
deed, it was put out at interest, and remained unset- 
tled until the next century, when these " religious 
English" gave the intruders indefinite leave of ab- 
sence from Canada, and settled the boundary ques- 
tion by annexing the whole territory. 

As an offset to their loss on the eastern rivers, 
the Plymouth Pilgrims began to push their enter- 
prise towards the west. " Kumor, with its thousand 
tongues," had frequently hymned the praises of the 
Eldorado of Connecticut. The phlegmatic Dutch- 
man, so cold on other themes, kindled on this, and 
actually took his pii3e out of his mouth, that he 
might speak more freely. The taciturn Indian 
melted into profuse and graphic eloquence when 
he painted the beauty and fertility of these west- 
ern bottom-lands.t 

These glowing reports at length won the Pil- 
grims, tied at first b}^ the necessity of overcoming a 
contiguous wilderness, to scout in that region. Par- 
ties visited the banks of the " Fresh river," as the 
Dutch styled it,:}: or the Connecticut, as it soon came 
to be called, " not without profit," finding it " a fine 
place both for planting and for trade. "§ 

In 1633, Bradford and "Winslow, who had him- 

* Bradford, p. 294. 

t Ibid., p. 311. Wintbrop, Hubbard, Tbatcber. 
X Brodbead's N. Y. ; tbe Dutcb claim to bave discovered it. 
Brodbead. § Bradford, ut antea. 



ADVANCE or CIVILIZATION. 321 

self batlied in the waters of the silvery river, went 
np to Boston to solicit froDi Winthrop a united 
effort to colonize the Connecticut valley. In the 
first spring after Winthrop's landing, a Connecticut 
sachem, exj)elled from his hunting-grounds by the 
prowess of the Pequods, a fierce and numerous 
tribe, as powerful in New England as the " Six Na- 
tions" were in New York,* had come across the 
country to offer the pale-faces a settlement on the 
banks of the beautiful river, together with the alli- 
ance of his warriors and a yearly tribute of corn 
and beaver. t The Indian negotiator was well 
received, but Winthrop declined to accede to his 
request, since, " on account of their so recent arri- 
val, they were not fit to undertake it.":|: The Plym- 
outh diplomats received the same answer ; and re- 
turning home, they resolved to push into the Con- 
necticut forests unassisted.§ 

Meantime the Dutch, hearing of this purpose 
and preparation, decided to preoccupy the land, 
and so, by antedating the Pilgrim settlement, claim 
the soil by priority.il They did indeed purchase, 
from a Pequod chief, a spot of land where Hartford 
now stands, and erecting a "slight fort" in June, 
1633, planted cannon, and forbade any Englishman 
to pass.lT 

Undeterred by threats, the Pilgrims perfected 

• Trumbull's Connecticut. f Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 52. 

t Bradford, p. 312. § Ibid. 

II Brodhead's N. Y., Bradford, Hubbard. 
% Ibid., Palfrey. 

14* 



322 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

their arrangements, and in October sailed by the 
"Good Hope" of the Dutch, after a parley and 
mutual threats* — in which they were struck only 
by a few Dutch oaths — and planted at Windsor the 
first English colony in Connecticut.f A twelve- 
month later, a company of seventy Dutchmen quit- 
ted New Amsterdam with the avowed purpose of 
expelling the Pilgrim pioneers. But after observing 
the spirit and preparation of the little garrison, 
they concluded to end their war-trail in a reconcil- 
iation, and retired without violence.^ 

In the midst of their hardy enterjDrise, while the 
door of civilization was just ajar in Connecticut, an 
infectious fever came to scourge the Pilgrims. "It 
pleased the Lord to visit those at Plymouth," says 
Bradford, " with a severe sickness this year, of 
which many fell sick, and upwards of twenty, men, 
women, and children, died ; among the rest, several 
of those who had recently come over from Ley den ; 
and at the last, Samuel Fuller, their surgeon and 
phj'sician. Before his death, he had helped many 
and comforted all; as in his profession, so other- 
wise, being a deacon in the church and a godly 
man, forward to do good, he was much missed. 
All were much lamented, and the sadness caused 
the people to humble themselves and seek God ; 
and towards winter it seemed good to him to stay 
the sickness. 

* Brodliead's N. Y., Bradford, Hubbard, Palfrey, 
t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 340. 

J Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 105-113. Bradford, pp. 311-314. Brod- 
head, Hist. N. Y., vol. 1, pp. 235-242 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 323 

" This disease swept away many of the Indians 
in that vicinage ; and the spring before, especially 
all the month of May, there was such a quantity of 
strange flies, like wasps in size, or bumblebees, com- 
ing out of holes in the ground, spreading through 
the woods, and eating up every green thing, as 
caused the forest to ring with their hum ready to 
deafen the hearers.* They have not been heard or 
seen since ; but the Indians then said their pres- 
ence foretokened sickness, which indeed came in 
June, July, August, and the chief heat of summer."t 

At this period in colonial history, the tide of em- 
igration seemed to flow at one time and to ebb at 
another. It was governed by the increase or the 
slack of persecution in England. In 1630, the date 
of the alienation of the provincial government, it 
was at the flood ; in the succeeding year it actually 
receded. " Climate and the sufferings of the set- 
tlers were against free emigration ; and besides, 
Morton, Kadcliff, and Gardiner, were busy in the 
island against the colonists. In 1631, only ninety 
persons came over. But in 1632, the sluggish cur- 
rent quickened, and again set westward. Spite of 
threats, the Pilgrims had not been molested, and 
as Laud's pesterings grew in virulence, many ships 
then prepared to start, and some of Britain's no- 
blest sons were about to desert her ; among them 

* " The insect here described," remarks Judge Davis, " is the 
Cicada Sepiendecim of LiniiEeus, commonlj' called the locust. They 
have frequently api^eared since, indicated by Linnseus' specific 
name." Davis' edition of the Mem., p. 171. 

t Bradford, pp. 314, 315. 



324 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

Lord Say, Lord Kicli, the 'good Lord Brooke,' 
Hazlerigge, Pym, Hampden, and Oliver Cromwell. 
But on the 31st of February, 1633, the king, in 
council, issued an order to stay the flotilla."* 

'T is a high fact, and shows upon what slight 
hinges the weightiest events turn. The very fore- 
most chiefs of the maturing revolution were at this 
time not only anxious to emigrate, but had actually 
embarked for America. Well would it have been 
for Charles, had he said to the disaffected Puritans, 

' ' Stand not upon the order of your going, 
But go at once." 

Had some good genius nudged the elbow of 
the king, on that critical morning when his breath- 
less messenger was hastening to stay the emi- 
grant flotilla, urged him to say Yes, to its sailing, 
and foretold the future, how eagerly the fated mon- 
arch would have caught the cue, and torn that 
parchment, so pregnant with mischief, which for- 
bade their departure ; and offered the immortal 
junto jewels of gold and precious stones as an 
inducement to be gone, and cried, "Egypt is glad," 
when they set out. 

But God made the wrath of man praise him. 
He struck the besotted court with judicial blind- 

* Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 160, 161. Hist. Eng. Puritans, Am. Tract 
Soc, N. Y., 1866. Arch. Am. Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 97. 
Eev. J. S. M. Anderson's Hist, of the Col. Chh. of the B. Emp., 
vol. 1, p. 175, note. The fact of this embarkation of Cromwell 
and Hampden has been questioned by some careful writers. See 
Forster's British Statesmen, in loco. Also, Sanford's lU. of the 
Fr. Kev., Loud., 1858. 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 325 

ness. Neither Charles, nor Straiford, nor Laud 

could read the hand- writing on the wall. They 

could not foresee events which were ere long to 

' ' Friglit the isle 
From her propriety. " 

These "fanatics" were not needed in New Eng- 
land. Their fellows had already commenced to 
build, at Plymouth and at Massachusetts Bay, for 
God and liberty. So they were detained to organ- 
ize "resistance to tyrants" in the senate-house, and 
to give the arbitrary jorinciple its death-blow at 
Naseby and Long Marston Moor. 

But though the court, frightened at the prodi- 
gious extent of an emigration which threatened to 
depopulate the kingdom, had fulminated a decree 
against colonization, the departure of Pilgrims was 
only hindered, not stayed. They continued to cross 
the water until, in 1640, this pattering emigration 
had rained four thousand families and upwards of 
twenty thousand settlers into New England.'^ Then 
for a few glorious years the exodus ceased. The 
prospect of reform in England caused men to re- 
main at home, " in the hope of seeing a new world" 
without passing the Atlantic. 

In the summer of this same year which wit- 
nessed the detention of Cromwell, and Pym, and 
Hampden, and Hazlerigge, and Lord Brooke, a 
ship was freighted for America ; and with two hun- 
dred other passengers, it bore to these shores three 
men who became as famous on this side the water 

* Hutchinson, vol. 1. p. 93. 



328 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

as the revolutionists did on the other — John Haynes, 
John Cotton, and Thomas Hooker.* On board the 
"Griffin" at this same time was another eminent 
minister, Mr. Stone ; " and this glorious triumvirate 
coming together," remarks Cotton Mather, " made 
the poor people in the wilderness say that God had 
supplied them with what would in some sort answer 
their three great necessities ; Cotton for their cloth- 
ing, Hooher for their fishing, and Stone for their 
building, "t 

Haynes, afterwards governor both of Massachu- 
sets and Connecticut, was " a man of very large 
estate, and still larger affections ; of a ' heavenly ' 
mind and a spotless life ; of rare sagacity and accu- 
rate but unassuming judgment ; by nature tolerant; 
ever a friend to freedom, ever conciliating peace. 
He was an able legislator, and dear to the Pil- 
grims by his benevolence and his disinterested con- 
duct."! 

Cotton and Hooker speedily became the most 
revered spiritual teachers of two commonwealths; 
Cotton shaped and toned Massachusetts ecclesias- 
ticism ; Hooker was the Moses of Connecticut. 
Both were well born ; both had been clergymen of 
the English church ; both had been silenced for 
non-conformity; both were consummate scholars — 
in Mather's strong phrase, zvalking libraries; both 
had won wide fame at home, which, like Joseph's 
bough, "ran over the wall" of the Atlantic ocean, 

o Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 362. | Bancroft, ut antea. 

f Magualia, vol. 1, p. 265. 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 327 

and made their names familiar in every cabin on 
the eastern coast. 

" Cotton was acute and subtile. The son of a 
Puritan lawyer, he had been eminent at Cambridge 
as a student. He was quick in the nice perception 
of distinctions, and pliant in dialectics ; in manner 
persuasive rather than commanding ; skilled in the 
fathers and the schoolmen, but finding all their wis- 
dom compactly stored in Calvin ; deeply devout by 
nature as well as habit from childhood ; hating her- 
esy and still precipitately eager to prevent evil 
actions by suppressing ill opinions, yet verging in 
opinion towards progress in civil and religious free- 
dom. He was the avowed foe of democrac}^, which 
he feared as the blind despotism of animal instincts 
in the multitude. Yet he opposed hereditary power 
in all its forms ; desiring a government of moral 
opinion, according to the laws of moral equity, and 
'claiming the ultimate resolution for the whole body 
of the people.' "* 

Cotton was, if not the originator, then the main 
mover of the theocratical idea. " When he came," 
says Mather, "there were divers churches in Amer- 
ica, but the country was in a perplexed and divided 
state ; points of church order he settled with exact- 
ness ; and inasmuch as no little of an Athenian 
democracy was in the mould of the colonial govern- 
ment, by the royal charter which was then acted 
upon, he effectually recommended that none should 
be electors or elected except such as were visible 
* Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 363. 



328 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

subjects of Christ personally confederated in the 
church. In this way, and in others, he propounded 
an endeavor after a theocracy, as near as might be 
to that which was the glory of Israel."* 

Cotton was a man of much personal humility. 
"He learned the lesson of Gregor}^, 'It is better, 
many times, to fly from an injury by silence, than to 
overcome it by replying ;' and he used that practice 
of Grynaeus, * To revenge wrongs by Christian taci- 
turnity.' On one occasion he had modestly replied 
to one that would much talk and croak of his in- 
sight into the revelations: 'Brother, I must con- 
fess myself to want ligJd in these -mysteries.' The 
man went home and sent Cotton a ]30und of can- 

He was iron in his doctrines, but personally he 
had the nimia humilitas which Luther sometimes 
lamented in Staupitz ; so much so, indeed, that 
Mather marvels that " the hardest flints should not 
have been broken on such a soft bag of cotton. "| 

Cotton, on landing, in 1633, at once assumed 
that leading position to which his intellect entitled 
him, and his pulj^it at Boston speedily became a 
leading powel* in Massachusetts. 

Hooker was settled, during his sojourn in the 
Bay plantation, at Cambridge.§ He was a man "of 
vast endowments, a strong will, and an energetic 
mind. Ingenuous in temper, he was open in his 

« Magnalia, vol. 1, pp. 265, 266. f Ibid, p. 277. J Ibid., 276. 
§ Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 343. Mr. Stone was his assist- 
ant. 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 329 

professions. He had been trained to benevolence 
bj tlie discipline of affliction, and to tolerance 
by liis refuge from liome persecution in Holland. 
He was choleric in temper, yet gentle in his affec- 
tions ; firm in faith, yet readily yielding to the 
power of reason ; the peer of the reformers, without 
their harshness ; the devoted apostle to the humble 
and the poor, severe only to the proud, mild in his 
soothings of a wounded sj)irit, glowing with the rap- 
tures of devotion, and kindling with the messages 
of redeeming love. His eye, voice, gesture, and 
whole frame, were animated with the living vigor of 
heart-felt religion ; he was public-spirited and lav- 
ishly charitable ; and 'though persecution and ban- 
ishment had awaited him as one wave follows an- 
other,' he was ever serenely blessed with ' a glori- 
ous peace of soul ' — fixed in his trust in Providence, 
and in his adhesion to the cause of advancing civ- 
ihzation, which he cherished always, even while it 
remained to him a mystery. 

"This was he whom, for his abilities and ser- 
vices, his contemporaries placed 'in the first rank' 
of men; praising him as the one rich pearl with' 
which ' Europe more than repaid America for the 
treasures from her coast.' The people to whom 
Hooker had ministered in England had preceded 
him in exile ; as he landed, they crowded about him 
with their cheery welcome. ' Now I live,' exclaimed 
he, as with open arms he embraced his flock, ' now 
I live if ye stand fast in the Lord.' "* 
<* Bancroft, ut antea. 



330 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

Hooker was an apostle of great boldness and of 
singular cliarit3\ He had fine tact and a habit of 
discrimination. He had a saying that " some were 
to be saved by compassion, others, by fear, being- 
pulled out of the fire." He knew hoAV to reach the 
heart ; once, when a settlement twenty leagues from 
his habitation was suffering from hunger, he sent a 
ship-load of corn to relieve the sufferers, thus de- 
monstrating his Christianity by what Chrysostom 
calls " unanswerable syllogisms."* 

Whitfield once said of him : " Hooker is one in 
whom the utmost learning and wisdom are tempered 
b}^ the finest zeal, holiness, and watchfulness; for, 
though naturally a man of choleric temper, and 
possessing a mighty vigor and fervor of spirit, 
which as occasion served was wondrous useful to 
him, yet he had as much government of his choler 
as a man has over a mastift' dog in a chain ; he could 
let out his dog or pull him in, as he pleased."! 

Mather records that some one once, seeing Hook- 
er's heroism and persistent goodness, said : " He is 
a man who, while doing his Master's work, would 
put a king in his pocket."| 

Of this there was an instance. It chanced once 
that on a fast-day kept throughout England, the 
judges on their circuit stoj^ped over at Chelmsford, 
where Hooker was to preach. Here, before a vast 
audience, and in the presence of the judges, he 
freely inveighed against the sins of England, and 
^jretold the plagues that would result. Charles had 
lia, vol. 1, p. 346. f Ibid., p. 345. J Ibid. 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. S-^l 

recently married a papist princess. The undaunted 
apostle in liis prayer besought God to set in the 
heart of the king what His own mouth had spoken 
by his prophet Malachi, as he distinctly quoted it : 
" An abomination is committed ; Judah hath mar- 
ried the daughter of a strange god ; the Lord will 
cut off the man that doeth this." Though the judges 
turned to and noted the passage thus cited, Hooker 
came to no trouble ; but it was not long before Eng- 
land did.* 

Hooker and Cotton have been well called the 
Luther and Melancthon of New England ; each be- 
came the oracle of his plantation. 

And now " the prophets in exile began to see the 
true forms of the house." They already held the soil 
by a twofold title : the royal charter had granted it 
to the patentees called the " Massachusetts Com- 
pany," " to be held by them, their heirs and assigns, 
in free and common soccage ; paying, in lieu of all 
services, one fifth of the gold and silver that should 
be found."t And this vestment the conscientious 
Pilgrims had been careful to supplement by actual 
purchase from the aborigines. | 

Every day the old trading corporation assumed 
new prerogatives, verging more and more towards 
a representative democracy. Winthrop was timid, 
and doubted the legality of this popular movement. 
Cotton was alarmed ; and on one election day he 
essayed to check the democratic tendency by preach- 

o Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 345. t See the Charter. 

X Chap. 21, pp. 260, 261 ; also chap. 27, p. 342. 



332 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

ing to the assembled freemen against rotation in 
office, arguing that an honest magistrate held his 
position as a proprietor holds his freehold. But the 
voters were deaf to the fears of the government, and 
careless, for once, of the decision of the pulpit. 
Dudley succeeded "Winthrop in the gubernatorial 
chair ;* legislation was intrusted to representatives 
chosen by the several toAvns of Massachusetts Bay ;t 
it was decreed that the freemen at large should 
be convened onl}^ for the election of magistrates.^ 
Thus, in 1634, the electors exercised their " absolute 
power," and " established a reformation of such 
things as they judged to be amiss in the model of 
government. "§ 

Now the colonial authority was divided between 
two branches. The representatives were the legis- 
lative, the magistrates were the executive arm. 
Both sat together in the outset, forming what was 
called " The General Court." Finally, the magis- 
trates grew discontented ; as the towns increased, 
so did the representatives; and they found them- 
selves outvoted ; so they pressed for separate houses, 
each with a veto on the other. It was granted. The 
deputies and the council were inaugurated ;|| and these, 
under the Bepublic, have become the Representa- 
tives and the Senate. 

Next, a law was framed which forbade arbitrary 
taxation ; it was decreed that " the deputies alone 

=•' Winthrop's Journal. f Colony Records. Winthrop. 

X Ibid. § Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard. 

II Ibid., Elliot. 



ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 333 

• 

were competent to grant land or raise money."* 
Already " the state was filled witli the bane of vil- 
lage politicians ; ' the freemen of every town in the 
Bay were busy in inquiring into their liberties.' 
With the important exception of universal sufirage, 
in our age so happily in process of complete estab- 
lishment, representative democracy was as perfect 
two centuries ago as it is to-day. Even the magis- 
trates who acted as judges held their office by an- 
nual popular election. 'Elections cannot be safe 
there long,' sneered an English lawyer, Leckford, 
with a shrug. The same prediction has been made 
these two hundred years. The public mind, in per- 
petual agitation, is still easily shaken, even by slight 
and transient impulses ; but after all its vibrations, 
it follows the laws of the moral world and safely 
recovers its balance."t 

The test of citizenship was indeed exclusive. 
But the conception which based the ballot on good- 
ness of the highest type, goodness of such purity 
and force that nothing save faith in Christ could 
create it — which conferred political power on per- 
sonal character, was noble, even while impractica- 
ble. But God commissioned an American reformer 
to plant the seed of a larger growth by a vehement 
and potent protest. 

o Elliot, Bancroft. f Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 365. 



334 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 



CHAPTEE XXVII. 

KOGER WILLIAMS. 

"I venerate the man ■whose heart is warm, 
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life. 
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof 
That he is honest in the sacred cause." 

Cowpek's Task. 

The Pilgrim Fathers were enamoured of the Mo- 
saic code. They esteemed it to be a diamond with- 
out a flaw. Their constant, persistent effort was to 
naturahze the Jewish ritual in New England. For 
this their statesmen planned and their divines dog- 
matized. They did not remember that the judicial 
government which fitted the world in its infancy 
had been outgrown, and now sat awkwardly upon 
Christendom twenty-one years of age. They did 
not remember that Christ had " rung out" the old 
dispensation and "rung in" a grander and broader 
one. 

Of course, in standing under the Mosaic code 
they were perfectly sincere ; and to their sincerity 
they wedded a Titanic earnestness. They regarded 
toleration as a snare and a curse. It was either the 
badge of indifference or the corslet of Atheism; 
therefore a vice entitled to no terms. The advo- 
cates of toleration in the seventeenth century may 
be counted on the fingers of one's two hands. 
The mo^t advanced thinkers of that epoch scarcely 



EOGER WILLIAMS. 335 

ventured, even in their most generous moments, to 
hint at a toleration of all creeds — each man re- 
sponsible alone to God. The Romanist denied it 
amid the crackling flftmes of his auto da fe, and 
held with the Sorbonne and with Bossu^t, that the 
stake is bound to extirpate heresy.* The Prot- 
estant urged exceptions when he asked for tolera- 
tion ; and, with Cartwright, forsook those who came 
under his ban, " that they might not corrupt and 
infect others. "t 

Tindale appealed not to the Pope, or to councils, 
or to the king, but to the Bible. So did Latimer; 
so did the Ridleys ; so did Cranmer ; so did Brad- 
ford : all of whom were blessed martyrs : yet none 
of these believed in full toleration ; they had not yet 
reached it. They accepted what was behind them ; 
they had a shadowy conception of what was in 
advance ; but they feared, and were tolerant only 
up to their own position, while they cried " halt !" 
to a farther progress. 

This European wave of sentiment swept in strong 
eddies to America ; and in New England Cotton 
wrote : " It was toleration that made the world anti- 
Christian; and the church never took harm by the 
punishment of heretics. "| The cobbler of Aga- 
wam§ responded : " Yes : to authorize an untruth 

« Bossuet. 

t Keply to Whitgift, cited by Stowell in his History of Eng- 
and. Puritans. 

I "Bloody Tenet ;" see Cotton's Controversy with Roger Wil- 
liams. 

§ Kev. Mr. Ward, in 1647. 



336 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

by a toleration of state, is to build, a sconce against 
the walls of heaven, to batter God out of his 
chair."* 

Therefore, the Pilgrim Fathers, backed by the 
public opinion of Christendom, tabooed tolera- 
tion, and gave it no place under the theocracy. 
When Roger "Williams landed with his wife at Bos- 
ton, in 1631, this was the sentiment and so stood, 
the law. 

He was a Welchman — for he had been cradled 
in the crags of Carmarthen — some thirty years of 
age, ripe for great acts, and though sometime a 
minister of the English church, he had thrown up 
his living because he could not, in Milton's phrase, 
" subscribe him slave," by conforming to Laud's 
idea.t 

He had heard of America as a land of splendid 
possibilities — as the Holy Land of a grander cru- 
sade than that which had been launched to clutch 
the East from beneath the Saracenic scimetars ; for 
this meant not empty sentimentality, it was an effort 
to win the wilderness for God. In that essay he 
longed to share ; and his quick-flowing blood, his 
bold energy, and what Winthrop called his " godly 
fervor," united to decide him to quit England, 
cramped in forms and chained in wraags, for the 
young, elastic, unbounded freedom of the west of 
the Atlantic. 

Boger Williams was an earnest ?eeker after 

* Cited in Elliot, vol. 1, p. 190. 
t Knowles' Life of Koger Williams. 



EOGEE WILLIAMS. 337 

truth. Like Kobinson, lie smiled at the idea that 
the acme of knowledge had been reached. He 
knew, moreover, that his goal was to be run for " not 
without toil and heat." He was romantically con- 
scientious ; but he held to his opinions with grim 
determination, while the slowly-ripening principles 
of the English revolution of 1G40 had already 
flowered in his brain. Now, in New England, he 
longed to set his ideas on two feet, and bid them 
run across the continent. 

Like all positive characters, the young Welch- 
man speedily attracted attention and made himself 
felt. His clear, ringing heel had scarce sounded in 
Boston streets ere he was cordoned by friends and 
surrounded b}^ foes.* His opinions were novel; 
some of them have been grafted into the funda- 
mental law of our Republic, and are now justly 
considered the palladium of religious peace ; others 
are still unsettled and partly unaccepted, being held 
by certain sects, and rejected by several as the dis- 
jecta membra of divinity; but to the Pilgrims they 
were alike odious and revolutionary. 

But the principle upon which hangs his immor- 
tality of fame is that of complete toleration. " He 
was a Puritan, and a fugitive from English j)ersecu- 
tion," remarks Bancroft, " but his wrongs had not 
clouded his accurate understanding. In the capa- 
cious recesses of his mind he had revolved the 
nature of intolerance, and he, and he alone, had 
arrived at the grand principle which is its sole effeo- 

* Knowles, ut antea. Colony Ref^ords, C. Mather, etc. 

Pilgrim FatheiB. 15 



338 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

tual remedy. He announced his discovery under 
the simple proposition of the sanctity of conscience. 
The civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never 
control opinion ; should punish guilt, but never vio- 
late the freedom of the soul. The doctrine con- 
tained within itself an entire reformation of tlieo- 
logical jurisprudence ; it would blot from the statute 
book the felony of non-conformity; would quench 
the fires that persecution had so long kept burn- 
ing ; would repeal every law compelling attendance 
on public worship ; would abolish tithes and all 
forced contributions to the maintenance of religion ; 
would give an equal protection to every form of reli- 
gious faith ; and never suffer the authority of civil 
government to be enlisted against the mosque of 
the Mussulman, or the altar of the fire-Avorshipper ; 
the Jewish synagogue, or the Eoman cathedral. 
It is wonderful with what distinctness. Roger Wil---- 
Hams deduced these inferences from his central 
tenet, the consistency Avith which, like Pascal and 
Edwards, those bold and profound reasoners on 
other subjects, he accepted every fair inference 
from his doctrine, and the circumspection with 
which he repelled every unjust imputation. In 
the unwavering assertion of these views he never 
changed his position ; the sanctity of conscience 
was the great tenet, which, with all its conse- 
quences, he defended as he first trod the shores of 
New England ; and in his extreme old age it was 
the last pulsation of his heart. But it placed the 
young emigrant in direct opposition to the whole 



ROGEE WILLIAMS. 339 

system on which Massachusetts was founded ; and 
forbearing and forgiving as was his temper, prompt 
as he was to concede every thing which honesty 
permitted, he always asserted his behef, however 
unpalatable it might be, with temperate firmness 
and an unbending benevolence."* And just here, 
it is only fair to add, that his opponents, on their 
part, usually applied their principles without per- 
sonal animosity. Between Williams and his great 
antagonist, Cotton, there was always, in their most 
heated moods, a substratum of cordial respect, while 
Winthrop, though consenting to the banishment of 
the pioneer American reformer, continued his fast 
friend through all.f 

This principle of toleration, together with sev- 
ral other obnoxious tenets, all of which Williams 
avowed with frank courage, soon brought him un- 
der ^the frown of the colonial authorities — a frown 
which deepened when he refused to unite with the 
church at Boston " because its members would not 
make public declaration of their repentance for 
having communion with the church of England 
before their emigration. ":|: 

This declaration — and the same thing may be 
said of several of his tenets — looks narroAV and big- 
oted in our eyes ; but Boger Williams had an un- 
doubted right to cherish his own views under the very 
j)rinciples which he first of all men in America pro- 

« Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 3G7, 3G8. 

t Elliot, vol. 1, p. 188. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 406, et seq. 

t Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 53. 



340 THE PILGKIM FATHEES. 

claimed, tliat "tlie public or the magistrate may 
decide what is due from man to man, but when they 
attempt to prescribe a man's duties to God, they 
are out of place, and there can be no safety; for it 
is clear, that if the magistrate has the power, he 
may decree one set of opinions or beliefs to-day 
and another to-morrow; as has been done in Eng- 
land by different kings and queens, and by different 
popes and councils in the Eomau church ; so that 
belief would become a heap of confusion.""-'' 

Be this as it may, the Pilgrims came to regard 
Boger Williams as a dangerous heresiarch ; as "un- 
settled in judgment ;"t as carrying " a windmill in 
his head."| Indeed, so strong was this feeling that 
many years afterwards Cotton Mather headed his 
account of Williams' advent, in the "Magnalia," 
with this Latin : " Hie se aperit Diaholus" — Here 
the devil shows himself. § 

Under these circumstances, we may easily ima- 
gine the consternation which reigned in Boston, 
when, in April, 1631, it was rumored that Koger 
Williams was about to be installed in the vacant 
place of Francis Higginson at Salem as assistant to 
Mr. Skelton.ll The court was convened; and a letter 
was at once indited to John Endicott, "one of the 
chief promoters of the settlement," in which, says 
Winthrop, the judges "marvelled that he should 
countenance such a choice without advising with 

* See Williams' " Hireling Ministry." \ Bradford, p. 310. 
^ X Mather's Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 495. § Ibid. 

II Wintlirop, Hubbard, Mather's Magnalia, Hutchinson. 



EOGEE WILLIAMS. 341 

tlie Council ; and withal desiring him to use his in- 
fluence that the Salem church should forbear till all 
could confer about it.""' 

In that day good ministers were not common in 
New England ; and, moreover, the Salem church- 
men liked Williams ; so, without heeding the remon- 
strance of the authorities, they proceeded to settle 
the teacher of their choice. He at once began to 
preach ; but with the advance of summer the tem- 
per of the government grew hot with the season, 
and finally he decided to bid Salem farewell and 
take refuge at Plymouth. f This he did, being soon 
after elected assistant to Ralph Smith. :|: At Plym- 
outh as at Salem, he made many friends, and Brad- 
ford bears witness that he was " a man godly and 
zealous, having many precious parts. "§ But his 
"strange opinions" were not fully approved; and 
consequently, when, after the death of Mr. Skelton, 
in 1633, the Salem church urged their truant pastor 
to return to them, Williams acceded. He was dis- 
missed, as Brewster counselled, from the Plymouth 
church, but was followed back to Salem by a body- 
guard of devoted admirers, " who would have no 
other preacher."!! 

It was during his sojourn at Plymouth that 
Koger Williams began to cement that famous friend- 
ship with the Indians which was one day to stand 

* Winthrop's Journal, pp. 63, 64. 

f Knowles' Life, Savage on Wintlirop, Magnalia, etc. 

t Bradford, p. 310. § Ibid. 

ll Morton's Memorial, p. 151. Bradford, p. 310. 



342 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

him in such good steatl/^' "My soul's desire," lie 
said, "was to do the natives good."t And later, 
when 

" Declined 
Into the vale of years," 

he wrote again : " God was pleased to give me a 
painful, patient spirit, to lodge with them in their 
filthy, smoky holes, to gain their tongue.":!: In this 
way he became acquainted with Massasoit, the chief 
of the Wampanoags, and with Canonicus and Mian- 
tonomoh, the sachems of the Narragansetts, among 
whom, in after-3'ears, he sought and found a home. 

On his return to Salem his struggle with the 
government recommenced. While at Plymouth he 
had written a pamphlet against the validity of the 
colonial charter, and submitted it to Bradford. § 
Now he published it. He said : " Why lay such 
stress upon your patent from King James? 'Tis 
but idle parchment : James has no more right to 
give away or sell Massasoit's lands, and cut and 
carve his country, than Massasoit has to sell James' 
kingdom or to send his Indians to colonize War- 
wicksliire."|| 

Since the Pilgrims had legalized their title to 
the land in foro conscienlicc-, hj actual purchase from 
the aborigines,'^ it is somewhat difficult to conceive 

* Prince, Elliot, Eanvarcl. 

t Cited in Elliot, vol.- 1, p. 199. Banvard, p. 160. t Ibid. 
§ Palfrey, Knowles. Wiuthrop, vol. 1, pp. 143, 114. 
II Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 197, 198. 

IT Knowles' Life of Williams, Mather's Magnaiia, Dwight's 
Tracts, ante chaps. 21 and 26, pp. 260, 261. 



EOGEB WILLIAMS. 343 

why Williams, already staggering under a load of 
odium, should have added to the pack by a decla- 
ration entirely useless, yet certain to kindle anger 
because it was looked upon as treason against the 
cherished charter.* 

The fact should seem to be that he had the ccr- 
taminis gaudia — the joy of disputation; common to 
intellectual gladiators. Occasionally this got the 
better of his prudence ; and when it did, like a 
skilful rider, he soon recovered the reins of his 
caution and made glad amends. On this occasion, 
he confessed his penitence for the ill which had 
arisen from the unfortunate polemic, and offered 
to burn the manuscript if the authorities chose to 
countenance the bon-fire.f 

Boger Williams next pronounced himself upon 
an exciting local question. It was then a mooted 
point at Salem whether women were commanded 
to appear at church veiied.:|; Singularly enough, 
the radical Williams said Yes, and the conservative 
Cotton said No ; the historic opponents for once 
changed places ; and Cotton, going to Salem, han- 
dled the subject so convincingly in his morning ser- 
mon, that the ladies came to church in the afternoon 
unveiled ; upon which " Williams, though uncon- 
vinced, desisted from opposition. "§ 

Behind these frivolities were graver issues. In 

• Bancroft, vol. 1, ix 368. 

t Wiuthrop, vol. 1, pp. 14.5, 146. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 409. 

t See 1 Coriuthians 11:5. 

§ Magnalia. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 409. 



344 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

1633, trouble seemed brewing between England and 
tlie Pilgrim colonists. Charles, Laud, and Strafford, 
had hinted at a "commission" for the regulation of 
the non-conforming American plantations ; and the 
Privy Council had commanded Cradock to order the 
colonial charter home, to be "regulated." The ex- 
president of the Massachusetts Company did write 
for it in 1634, and in 1635 "quo warranto"* was 
issued. But the provisional authorities, Avhile an- 
swering Cradock's missive, declined to return the 
charter.'!' 

Affairs looked black indeed. Resistance was 
seriously contemplated ; what was called the " free- 
man's oath," which bound the colonists to allegi- 
ance to the colony rather than to the king, was 
ordered to be subscribed throughout Massachusetts 
Bay; and at the same time it was decided to "avoid 
and protract."! Nothing prevented England from 
launching her cohorts upon the plantations but the 
presence of those home troubles which now began 
to press the royalist party as closely as the ser- 
pents enveloped Laocoon. It was a time of general 
anxiety, and men cried Hush ! and held their breath 
to see what should next occur. 

But " Williams could not keep quiet in this 
seething world," affirms Elliot; "nor could Endi- 
cott. Both of them saw the inevitable tendencies 



* A writ requiiing a person to show by what right he is doing 
a special thing. 

t Elliot, vol. 1, p. 200. Bancroft, Hubbard. 
X Ibid. , Hutchinson, Knowles. 



ROGEE WILLIAMS. 345 

of the Roman cliurch ; and feeling that such a 
church was dangerous to their infant liberties, they 
decided that the symbol under which the pope and 
Laud marched should not be their symbol : so En- 
dicott cut the cross out of the king's colors. At 
such a crisis, when the aim was to ' avoid and j)ro- 
tract,' this audacious act of course made trouble ; 
and Endicott, at the next court, was ' sadly admon- 
ished,' and disabled from office for a year.''^" "Wil- 
liams held jDeculiar views respecting oaths, and cited 
the Scripture command—' swear not at all.' And as 
the freeman's oath clashed with the oath to the 
king, he also spoke against that, and dissuaded 
some from taking it,"t 

Besides this, Roger Williams was an avowed 
democrat. He proclaimed this truth : " Kings and 
magistrates are invested with no more power than 
the people intrust to them.":j: And he said again : 
" The sovereign power of all civil authority is 
founded in the consent of the people."§ Republi- 
canism was the logical sequence of religious lib- 
erty — came from it as naturally as the bud exj)ands 
into the flower. Yet it startled the Pilgrims. They 
were constantly making forays into the domain of 
absolutism. They never scrupled, when they had a 
chance, at clutching popular prerogatives. They 
were always busy in enacting democracy into law ; 

* Williams' connection with this act is but distant and ob- 
licpe, if he had any. See Knowles, Winthrop, Hubbard, Palfrey, 
etc. t Elliot, vol. 1, p. 201. 

X WiUianis' -'Bloody Tenet." § Ibid. 

15* 



346 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

but they were shocked when Boger Williams put it 
into propositions. 

" Had Cromwell been in power at the time, with 
his republican bias," remarks Felt, " these senti- 
ments would have been crowned with approbation ; 
but being uttered under one of the Stuarts, they 
were hissed as the expression of sedition. It has 
ever been in accordance with the spirit of human 
policy, that principles under the circumstances of 
one period are accounted patriotism, which under 
the circumstances of another era are denounced as 
treason."* 

Thus it was that the theories of Eoger Williams 
" led him into perpetual collision with the clergy 
and the government of Massachusetts Bay. It had 
ever been their custom to respect the church of 
England, and in the mother-country, they had fre- 
quented its service ; yet its principles and its admin- 
istration were still harshly exclusive. The American 
reformer would hold no communion with intoler- 
ance ; for, said he, ' the doctrine of persecution for 
conscience' sake is most evidently and lamentably 
contrary to the doctrine of Jesus Christ.' 

" The magistrates insisted on the presence of 
every man at public worship ; Williams reprobated 
the law ; the worst statute in the English code was 
that which did but enforce attendance upon the 
parish church. To compel men to unite with those 
of a different creed, he regarded as an open viola- 
tion of their natural rights ; to drag to public wor- 
* Felt's Hist, of New England,, vol. 1, p. 17.5. 



EOGEE WILLIAMS. 347 

ship the irreligious and the unwilling, seemed like 
requiring hypocrisy. ' An unbelieving soul is dead 
in sin' — such was his argument. 'And to force the 
indifferent from one worship to another, is like 
shifting a dead man into several changes of apparel,' 
He added : ' No one should be forced to worship, 
or to maintain a worship against his own consent.' 
'What!' exclaimed his antagonists, amazed at his 
tenets, ' is not the laborer worthy of his hire ?' 
'Yes,' replied he, 'from those who hire him.' 

" The magistrates were selected exclusively from 
the church members ; with equal propriety, reasoned 
Williams, might ' a doctor of physic or a pilot ' be 
selected according to his skill in theology and his 
standing in the church. It was objected, that his 
principles subverted all good government. 'Oh 
no,' said he ; ' the commander of the vessel of state 
may maintain order on board the ship and see that 
it pursues its course steadily, even though the dis- 
senters of the crew be not compelled to attend the 
public prayers of their companions.' ""' 

The Pilgrims heard all this aghast. Soon they 
wearied of discussion; they invoked the syllogism 
of the law to rebut the heresies of the bold de- 
claimer. Williams was cited in 1635, to appear 
before the General Court at Boston, for examina- 
tion. Taking his staff in his hand, he set .out. 
The session was stormy. Cotton argued ; others 
scolded ; Winthrop pleaded ; Endicott was wrenched 
away from Williams' side ; but Williams, while 

* Baucroft, vol. 1, pp. 372, 373. 



348 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

maintaining some odd opinions, spoke boldly for 
God and liberty that day, and " maintained the 
rocky strength of his grounds."* 

" To the magistrates he seemed the ally of a 
civil faction ; to himself he appeared onlv to make 
a frank avowal of the truth. The scholar who is 
accustomed to the pursuits of abstract philosophy, 
lives in a region of thought quite remote from that 
by which he is surrounded. The range of his un- 
derstanding is aside from the paths of common 
minds, and he is often the victim of the contrast. 
'T is not unusual for the world to reject the voice of 
truth, because its tones are strange ; to declare doc- 
trines unsound, only because they are new ; and 
even to charge obliquity or derangement on a man 
who brings forward principles which the average 
intelligence repudiates. 'Tis the common history; 
Socrates, and St. Paul, and Luther, and others of 
the most acute dialecticians, have been ridiculed as 
drivellers and madmen. "f 

Roger Williams now evinced his kinship with the 
martyrs for human progress, by suffering that rejec- 
tion common to those who venture to project their 
revolutionary th6ughts from the front of a century's 
advance. Misunderstood and condemned, he was 
commanded to abjure his heresies or else expect 
" sentence.":}: 

Of course, he could not reject himself ; therefore, 

* Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard, Knowles, Elton's Life. 

f Bancroft, ut antea. 

J "Winthrop, Colonial Records, Knowles. 



ROGER WILLIAMS. 349 

saying with Job, " Tlioiigli I die, I will maintain m j 
integrity," lie uncovered his head with serene pa- 
tience to " bide the pelting of the pitiless storm." 
The thunderbolt soon fell. The church at Salem 
was coerced into abandoning the immortal pastor ; 
and in November, 1635, he was ordered " to depart 
out of the jurisdiction of Massachusetts Bay within 
six weeks ;"* a sentence which is said to have been 
mainly due to Cotton's eloquence.t 

Finally, Williams was permitted to remain at 
Salem until the following spring, as the season 
then shivered on the verge of winter.:]: Then the 
Pilgrims grew alarmed ; the reformer's opinions 
were contagious ; they thought, after all, that it 
would be best to send "Williams home to England. 
A ship was about to sail ; a warrant was issued ; 
officers were despatched to arrest the disturber of 
that Israel. But on coming to his house and open- 
ing the door, they found " darkness there, and noth- 
ing more." Koger W^illiams, apprized of the change 
of purpose, had quitted Salem " in winter snow and 
inclement weather."§ On, on he pressed, for Laud 
and the Tower of London were behind him. With- 
out guide, Avithout food, without shelter, he suffered 
tortures. " For fourteen weeks I was sorely tossed 
in a bitter season" — so he wrote in the evening of 
his life — "not knowing what bread or bed did 

* Winthrop, Colony Records, Knowles. 

t Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 377. 

J: Ibid., Hubbard, Hutchinson. 

§ Knowles, Elton's Life, Hutchinson, etc. 



350 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

mean."* " But," said lie sweetly, " the ravens fed 
me in the wilderness ;"t and he often made his hab- 
itation in the hollow of a tree. But nothing could 
daunt him. His cheerful faith, 

"Exempt from public haunt, 
Found tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing." 

So he fled on, on, through the snow, the darkness, 
the dreary forest ; "fled from Christians to the sav- 
ages, who knew and loved him, till at last he reached 
the kind-hearted but stupid Indian heathen Massa- 
soit.".t. 

This winter banishment of Roger Williams was 
cruel and bigoted, but it was not without pallia- 
tion. He had run a tilt against the law and order 
of his time ; he had sneered at the validity of the 
charter, then the fundamental law ; he had im- 
peached the theocracy ; he had the dangerous ad- 
vantage of being personally equipped with those 
gifts which win and " grapple to the soul with 
hooks of steel." Every motive of worldly prudence 
seemed to dictate banishment. These things ex- 
tenuate, but they do not excuse ; because we are 
bound to impeach an untrue order. Paul cried, 
" God is God," and trampled wicked laws beneath 
his feet. The catacombs of Pagan Rome were 
choked with martyrs who went against the law and 
order of their time. Huss and Wickliffe, Latimer 
and Ridley, violated law precisely as Roger Will- 

* Roger Williams in Mass. Hist. Col., vol. 1, p. 276. 

t Ibid. t Elliot. 



ROGER WILLIAMS. 351 

iams did. The law-breaker is not necessarily im- 
moral and a pest. Society is bound to see tliat the 
statute-book does not fetter the human conscience. 
If society is recreant to its duty, individuals must 
not be false to God. Therefore, in this matter of 
opposing the colonial law, we hide Roger Williams 
behind the apostles, and enclose him within the 
leaves of the New Testament. 

After months of vicissitude, the great exile 
reached the shores of Narragansett Bay, and 
founded Providence. As he floated down the 
stream in his canoe, and neared the site of the 
beautiful city born of his piety, the Indians shout- 
ed, "Wha-cheer, friend; wha-cheer?" and grasped 
his hand with cordial sympathy as he stepped 
ashore.* A large grant of land was easily obtain- 
ed from Canonicus and Miantonomoh — easily ob- 
tained because of the love and favor which they 
bore him, since Williams says that money could 
not have bought it without affection and confi- 
dence t — and as the whole domain was his, he might 
have lived as lord-proprietor ; but principle for- 
bade. " On the hill the forests, just clothed in 
their full leafage, bowed their heads to this fugi- 
tive, the hero of a great idea, and whisjDered ' Lib- 
erty !"';!: 

He heeded that whisper, and dedicated the 
infant state to the most radical idea of liberty; so 
that it became the asylum of the oi^pressed ; and 

* Knowles, Elliot, Judge Durfee's poem, '• What Cheer?" 
t Knowles, p. 270. % Elliot. 



352 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

as tlie Hebrew prophet always prayed with his 
window open towards Jerusalem, so distressed con- 
sciences, when the}^ felt the sting of persecution, 
murmured. Providence. 

Koger Williams planted a democracy — a gov- 
ernment of the people, by the people, for the peo- 
ple/'' He cemented his state by toleration. " The 
removal of the yoke of soid-oppression," said he, 
" as it will prove an act of mercy and righteousness 
to the enslaved nations, so it is of binding force to 
engage the whole and every interest and conscience 
to preserve the common liberty and peace."t 

So it proved ; for, spite of Cotton Mather's epi- 
gram, that it was " bona terra, mala gens'"X — a good 
land and a wicked people — it increased and pros- 
pered from the outset, justifying the motto of the 
commonwealth. Amor vincet omnia.^ 

While Boger Williams believed in toleration, he 
did not believe in license, but was always earnest 
for liberty regulated by law. Thus when the Bant- 
ers appeared and railed against all order, he invoked 
the judicial arm to suppress their madness.li But 
when the Quakers invaded the state, he attacked 
them only with syllogisms. He was ardently op- 
posed to their tenets ; but he essayed to " dig George 
Fox out of his burrows" with words only, and re- 
turned a stern "No" to the thrice-repeated request 

* Knowles, p. 120. Elton, Hutcliinson. 

t Cited in Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 371. 

J Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 497. § Love ■will overcome all things. 

II Winthrop, Hutcliinson, Hi^bbard. 



EOGEE WILLIAMS. 353 

of Massachusetts that they be expelled from his 
jurisdiction.* " We find," he wrote, " that where 
these people are most of all supposed to declare 
themselves freely, and are only opposed by argu- 
ment, there they least of all desire to come."t 

In 1643, Williams went to England to obtain a 
charter for his plantation. He "found all in a 
flame ; civil war raging, Hampden just killed, 
Charles fled from London, and the city and the 
government in the hands of the Parliament." Here 
he lived on intimate terms with Sir Harry Vane 
and Milton, kindred spirits, Avho were doing in 
England what he had done in America. His mis- 
sion was successful, and a twelvemonth later he 
returned to Providence with a liberal patent, the 
free-will offering of jubilant democracy across the 
water. :j: 

Eight years later, under the Protectorate, Eoger 
Williams once more visited England on colonial 
business ; and his admission and recognition among 
the foremost thinkers of the time were general and 
hearty. The acquaintance with Vane and Milton 
was continued, and Marvell and Cromwell were 
added to his list of friends.§ But his heart was in 
America, and in 1654 he came back to Providence ;i| 
whereupon he was elected president of the cluster 
of plantations which, in after-days, were moulded 
into the little state of Rhode Island.^ 

* Knowles, p. 295. f Elton, p. 127. Hutcliinson, Elliott, 
t Ibid. Knowles, Hist. Col., vol. 2, p. 121. § Ibid. 

II Ibid. IT Khode Island Colony Records. 



\/ 



354 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

For many years Williams and his colony were 
under the frown of their brother Pilgrims ; but 
through it all they bore cheerily up, trusting to 
God, time, and success, to remove all prejudice, 
and " keeping always to that one principle, ' that 
every man should have liberty to worship God 
according to the light of his own conscience.' "- 

Roger Williams had learned that most difficult 
of lessons, to return good for evil. He never 
wearied in well-doing ; and his fine tact, broad 
statesmanship, and friendly zeal, on more than one 
occasion came between the colonists who had flung 
him into dishonorable banishment and impending 
harm.t With the Indians he was singularly influ- 
ential, and frequently his presence at their camp- 
fires and in their wigwams served to explode a ma- 
turing conspiracy.:}: 

On the Restoration, an event occurred whicli 
finely illustrates the beautiful text, that " He who 
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, 
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing 
his sheaves with him." The American republican 
had been the warm friend and coadjutor of Crom- 
well, and Milton, and Pym. When Charles II. 
came to the throne, all looked to see his hand 
stretched across the Atlantic to menace and chas- 
tise. It was outstretched, but only to bless ; for 
the foppish Stuart actually renewed the charter 

* Morton's Memorial, p. 154. 

t See Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 38. 

X Elton's Life of Williams, p. 54. Knowles, Winthrop. 



EOGEE WILLIAMS. 355 

which the wise Protector had first granted to the 
Providence plantations. He paid unconscious hom- 
age to the principle of Eoger Williams, and assented 
to what Gammel calls " the freest paper that ever 
bore the signature of a king — the wonder of the 
age."* 

Such was one instance of the influence of a man 
whose beneficent career is at once an example and 
an inspiration ; not because he was always right or 
always wise, but because he was always true to his 
own ideal. Eoger "Williams was the initiator of 
many changes; and he, first of all in America, 
boldly framed the creed of democracy. But the 
brightest jewel in his crown is that he, taking his 
life in one hand and his good name in the other, 
" was the first reformer in modern Christendom to 
assert in its plenitude the doctrine of the liberty of 
conscience, the equality of all opinions before the 
law. At a time when Germany was the battle-field 
for all Europe in the implacable wars of religion ; 
when even Holland was bleeding with the anger 
of vengeful factions ; Avhen France was still to go 
through a fearful struggle with bigotry ; when Eng- 
land was gasping under the despotism of intoler- 
ance ; almost half a century before William Penn 
became an American proprietary; and two years 
before Descartes founded modern philosophy on 
the basis of free reflection," Eoger Williams de- 
manded the enfranchisement of the human soul. 

" We praise the man who first analyzed the air, 

* Gammel,, p. 182. 



356 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

or resolved water into its elements, or drew the 
lightning from the clouds, even though the discov- 
eries may have been as much the fruits of time as 
of genius. A moral principle has a much wider 
and nearer influence on human happiness ; nor can 
any discovery of truth be of more direct benefit to 
society than that which establishes perpetual reli- 
gious peace, and spreads tranquillity through every 
community and every bosom. 

" If Copernicus is held in everlasting reverence 
because, on his death -bed, he published to the 
world that the sun is the centre of our system ; if 
the name of Kepler is preserved in the annals of 
human excellence for his sagacity in detecting the 
laws of planetary motion ; if the genius of Newton 
has been almost adored for dissecting a ray of light 
and weighing heavenly bodies in a balance — let 
there be for the name of Roger Williams at least 
some humble place among those who have advanced 
moral science, and made themselves tile benefactors 
of mankind."'* 

" Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 376, 377. 



A UNIVERSITY AND A STATE. 357 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

AN AKEIVAL, A UNIVEKSITY, AND A STATE. 

"Three tilings are of the first importance — good men, educa- 
tion, and a settled commonM'ealth. " 

LoED Bacon. 

Spite of internecine struggle and transatlantic 
intrigue, New England walked steadily on in the 
path towards material prosperity. It was inevita- 
ble ; for the parents of success were within her bor- 
ders : essential godliness was in her right hand, and 
the habit of thrift was in her left. It is very prob- 
able that prosperity was helped instead of hindered 
by tlie agitation which was begotten of the official 
acts of the colonial government. The stir served 
to keep Christendom agog for the latest news from 
America. "What are these Pilgrims now at?" was 
the inquiry incessantly on every lip. Thus it was 
that the name and action of New England became as 
prominently familiar in the salons of the ultramon- 
tanists in Europe, and in the club-rooms of the riot- 
ous cavaliers, as in the humble dAvellings of the 
godly Puritans. 

Besides, agitation in its turn begot progress. 
Where there is silence there is death. If the Alps, 
j)iled in cold, still sublimity, are the emblem of fat 
and contented despotism, the ocean is the symbol 



358 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

of democracy ; for it is jDiire and useful only be- 
cause never motionless. 

At all events, the progress of New England was 
unique and unprecedented. " Nee minor ah exordio,'^ 
says Cotton Mather, "nee major incrementis tdla.""^ 
Never was any thing more lowly in incejDtion or 
more mighty in increase. In 1635, twenty ships 
dropped anchor in Boston and Plymouth harbors ;t 
and in that single year three thousand new settlers 
were added to the Pilgrim colonies. | Men came 
over fast and 

"Thick as aiitumnal leaves that strow the brooks 
In Vallambrosa, where the Etruscan shades, 
High overarched, imbower." 

And these, like their predecessors, were of " the 
best."§ 

With them landed an illustrious trio — Hugh Pe- 
ters, the younger Winthrop, and Sir Harry Yane.li 
The fiery Peters came from one exile to another ; 
for he had been pastor of an English church at Rot- 
terdam. He was an enlightened republican, public 
spirited, prodigiously energetic, and eloquent, al- 
ready endowed with those high qualities which soon 
afterwards pushed him into prominence in the Eng- 
lish civil war as the coadjutor of Cromwell, tlie jailor 
of Charles I., and an echoer of the regicidal ver- 
dict.l 

* Magnalia, voL 1, p. 80. t I^^i*!-' P- 136. 

% Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 383, § Wiuthrop's .Journal. 

II Ibid., Bancroft, Elliot, Palfrey, Hutchinson. They landed 
in October, 1635. 

IT See Encyclopedia Americana, Appleton's Encyclopedia, Eng- 
lish Encyclopedia. 



A UNIVEESITY AND A STATE. 359 

During his seven years' sojourn in New England, 
Hugh Peters was settled at Salem as the successor 
of Koger Williams.* At once his restless and vari- 
ous activity bubbled over into works of utility.t 
He was minister, he was politician, he was facto- 
tum. He saw the commercial capabilities of Amer- 
ica, and set himself to develop them. He "went 
from place to place," says "Winthrop, "laboring 
both publicly and privately to raise men up to a 
public frame of spirit, and so prevailed, that he 
procured a good sum of money to set on foot a sys- 
tematic fishing business."! 

The younger Winthrop was Hugh Peters' com- 
pagno7i de voyage. 'Tis related of a son of Scipio 
Africanus that, proving degenerate, the scoffing Ro- 
mans forced him to pluck off a signet-ring which he 
wore, with his father's face engraved upon it. There 
was no occasion for such public discipline in this 
case, for young Winthrop was, in Cotton Mather's 
phrase. Bonus a bono, pius a pio, the son of a father 
like himself. After an exemplary and studious boy- 
hood, he had followed the elder Winthrop to New 
England ; where, dowered with the advantages of 
extensive travel and consummate education, he had 
been annually elected one of the gubernatorial as- 
sistants — an honor which was continued even when 
he returned to Europe for a space. § 

He now came armed with the authority of Lord 

* Mather's Magnalia, Palfrey, etc. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 436. J Winthrop, p. 170. 

§ Ibid., p. 173, Palfrey, Trumbull's Hist. Coma., Elliot. 



380 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

Say and the "good Lord Brooke," the original 
patentees of Connecticut, to plant a new colony, of 
wliicli lie should be governor.^ "But inasmuch as 
many good people from Massachusetts Bay and 
Plymouth had already taken possession of a part 
of his demesne, this courteous and godly gentleman 
would give them no molestation ; but saying, ' the 
land is broad,' he accommodated the matter with 
them, and then sent a convenient number of men 
to erect a town and fort at the mouth of the Con- 
necticut, which he called, after the patrons of the 
enterprise. Say-brook. By this happy action, the 
planters farther up the river had no small kindness 
done them ; while the Indians, who might else have 
been even more troublesome than they soon proved, 
were kept in some awe."t 

Winthrop was one of the few early Pilgrims who 
had been graduated at a university, yet was not 
won to lay aside his layman garb for the clerical 
robe. "It is a singular fact," observes Elliot, "that, 
possessed as he was of scholarly and scientific 
tastes, he took hold resolutely of the material life 
of his plantation at Saybi'ook, and worked to shape 
it well, as the base of the superior structure which 
he meant to rear upon it. He appreciated what 
scholars and idealists are prone to forget, the prime 
value of a good material foundation. For many 
years he was chosen governor of the colony, and in 
that position he gave universal satisfaction. For 

* Trumbull, Mather's Magnalia. 
f Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 158. 



A UNIVEESITY AND A STATE. 3G1 

his vices and his enemies, if he had either, they are 
forgotten. 

" He was too large a man to engage in the per- 
secution of the Quakers, which he always opposed; 
and if he beheved in witchcraft, a rank superstition 
at that time common, it was as a query, not as a 
fact. His leisure hours were devoted to science ; 
and his contributions to the old ' Royal Society of 
London,' of which he was an early member, were 
highly valued. Indeed, Boyle and other scientific 
scholars at one period had a plan for joining their 
fellow-student in the New World, for the purpose 
of pushing their investigations of natural knowl- 
edge."* 

The last member of this famous group. Sir Har- 
ry Vane junior, was at this time but twenty-three,t 
and he came out much against the wishes of a father 
who stood as high in the confidence of the queen of 
England as Strafford did in the affections of the 
king.:}; "Let him go," said Charles to the per- 
turbed courtier, when he learned that Harry had 
turned Puritan and proposed to emigrate — " Let 
him go; my word for't, he'll soon sicken on 't and 
be back, if you give him consent to remain in those 
parts for three years."§ 

So the devout boy embarked. On reaching Bos- 
ton, he was saluted with enthusiasm. His high 

« Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 249, 250. 

t Palfrey, Bancroft, Hubbard. 

X Palfrey, Wiuthrop, Elliot, Bancroft. 

§ Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 136. 

T'ilgiim Viitlie:8. 16 



362 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

birth, his sacrifices, his Puritanism, his splendid 
talents, every thing about him, served to enlist the 
sober Pilgrims in his favor ; and this eifect was 
heightened by his personal beauty, singular learn- 
ing, and ingratiating manners.* As the Bostoni- 
ans knew him better they liked him better ; soon 
he was the most popular man in the colony ; and 
in 1636 he was elected to fill the gubernatorial 
chair — elected over the heads of Wiuthrop, and 
Dudley, and the elders of our Israel, which they 
might and did look upon as a freak of democratic 
strategy quite superfluous.'!- 

The first public act of the three friends was, to 
placate a long smouldering feud between Winthrop 
and Dudley. WinthrojD was accused of over-leni- 
ency in his politics ; Dudley was charged with un- 
due severity. A friendly convention was held ; the 
questions at issue were kindly talked over. Vane 
and Peters counselled mutual forbearance ; and the 
quarrel ended with a "loving reconciliation" laever 
afterwards broken.:]: 

Some little time after Winthrop and Dudley, 
under Vane's auspices, had given each other the 
kiss of peace and gone home arm in arm, with the 
fire of their dijfferences definitively quenched, meas- 
ures were matured to plant a college in New Eng- 
land. Nothing more finely exhibits the wisdom of 
the Pilgrim Fathers than their watchful and am- 
ple provision for education, which Bacon has fitly 
termed the "sheet-anchor of peaceful common- 

-'' Elliot, Hubbard. f Ibid. X Winthrop, pp. 177-179. 



A UNIVEESITY AND A STATE. 363 

wealths." In tlieir estimation, its importance was 
second to nothing but religion, whose handmaid 
it was. 

They longed to rear a race of cultured men — to 
plant a school which should elbow out of America 
those wicked universities which were then the j)ests 
of Europe — vicious sinks which Beza called Fla- 
hella Safance, Satan's fans ; and which Luther styled 
CatJiedr as pestilent ice et antichristi luminaria, seats of 
pestilence and beacons of antichrist ; where, under 
the tuition of the Jesuits, immorality was made a 
fine art, and ferocity was taught as a cardinal virtue. 

With this two-fold object, a public school was 
called into life at Cambridge in 1636; and in that 
same year the General Court made a grant of four 
hundred pounds, which formed the legs on which 
the infant university first toddled.* Later, John 
Harvard bequeathed eight hundred pounds and 
his library to help forward the scholastic venture ; 
whereupon the grateful authorities eternized the 
donor's name by calling the school Haevakd Col- 
lege, f 

Henceforth New England bad a "city of books." 
Harvard college speedily became a nursery of piety, 
and was to America, as Livy said of Greece, sal 
gentium.X In narrating this achievement, the quaint 
divine who heaped together the mingled wheat and 
chaff of the Magnalia, cites triumphantly the lan- 

* New Eiiglaud's First Fruits, vol. 1, Quiucy's Boston, etc. 
■|- TbicL, Hutchiuson, Hubbard, Mather's Magnalia. 
% The nation's safety. See Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 1. 



364 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

guage of the orator who chanted pgeans to the Eng- 
lish Cambridge : " We have now provided — and let 
envj be as far removed from this declaration as is 
falsehood — that in popular assemblies stone shall 
not talk to stone ; that the chnrch shall not lack 
priests, or the bar jurists, or the community physi- 
cians ; for we have supplied the church, the govern- 
ment, the senate, and the army, with accomplished 
men."* 

Thus the new university was rightly esteemed 
an ornament and a civilizer; for learning, as the 
poet has hymned it, 

" Chastens the manners, and the soul refines, "f 

The school is at once preserver and benefactor; it 
is urhis medicus, the physician of the state. 

And now the settlements along the coast-line of 
Massachusetts were become " like hives overstocked 
with bees ; and many of the new inhabitants began 
to entertain the thought of swarming into planta- 
tions farther in the interior." The fifteen thousand 
settlers in Massachusetts felt crowded. They longed 
to imitate the Plymouth Pilgrims, who had sent out 
a forlorn hope to colonize Windsor, and the venture 
of the younger Winthrop at Saybrook. They too, 
longed 

' ' To descry new lands, 
Elvers and mountains, in this spotty globe." 

As early as 1634, Hooker's parishioners, at Cam- 
bridge, had petitioned the General Court to permit 

* See Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 1. 

f " EmoUit mores, uec sinit esse feros. " Horace. 



A UNIVEESITY AND A STATE. 365 

them " to look out either for enlargement or remov- 
al."* The authorities withheld their assent at the 
outset ; but when, in 1636, the motion was renewed, 
they said Yes.t 

Hooker — whom Morton calls " a son of thun- 
der"! — and Haynes were the chief promoters of 
this project to remove. § The winter of 1635-6 was 
spent in active preparation. Scouting parties were 
thrown forward. In the opening of the year, Hart- 
ford was settled, government was organized, civil 
order was establislied.il At the same time pioneers 
went out from Dorchester, and pushing the earlier 
Plymouth settlers from the ground, usurped Wind- 
sor in the name of Massachusetts Bay.*1[ Others 
quitted Watertown, and sat down at Wethers- 
field ;** w^iile some left Eoxbury, and were en- 
churched at Springfield, w^hich was afterwards 
found to he within the boundary of the old Bay 
State.tt 

But this emigration was merely preliminary ; it 
was the first patter of the coming shower ; it was 
the scouts of the Pilgrims, making an initial survey 
of the new Hesperia of Puritanism. In June, 1636, 
the principal caravan, led by Thomas Hooker and 
John Haynes, began its march. " There were of 

'-' Wiuthrop, p. 132. 

t Ibid., Palfrey, Bancroft, Trumbull. 

X Memorial, pp. 239, 210. 

§ Trumbull, Winthrof), Hutchinson. 

t[ Bancroft, vol. 1, p.396. 

IT Trumbull, vol. 1. Mather's Magualia, vol. 1, p. 81. 

'^'■^' Bradford, Hiibbard, Morton. ff Magnalia, ut antea. 



366 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

the company about one hundred souls, many of 
them persons accustomed to the affluence and ease 
of European life. They drove before them numer- 
ous herds of cattle ; and thus they traversed the 
pathless forests of Massachusetts, advancing hardly 
ten miles a day through the tangled woods, across 
the swamps and numerous streams, and over the 
highlands that separated the intervening valleys; 
subsisting, as they slowly wandered along, on the 
milk of the kine, who browsed on the fresh leaves 
and early shoots ; having no guide through the 
nearly untrodden wilderness but the compass, and 
no pillow for their nightly rest but heaps of stones. 
How did the hills echo with the unwonted lowing 
of the herds ! How were the forests enlivened by 
the fervent piety of Hooker ! Never again was 
there such a pilgrimage from the sea.side 'to the 
delightful banks' of the Connecticut."* 

The Pilgrims paused at Hartford, which the 
presence of Hooker and Haynes soon lifted into 
the foremost importance, and it became the Jerusa- 
lem of the west. The government w;as similar to 
that which Winthrop, and Endicott, and Cotton had 
shaped at Boston, except that now the church-mem- 
bership test was omitted, church and state were 
half-divorced, and all freemen were citizensf — lib- 
erality which placed the new-born state close beside 
the Providence plantations in magnanimous catho- 
licity. Indeed, Haynes, whose plastic hand mould- 

» Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 396. 

I Palfrey, Trumbull, Bancroft, Elliot, etc. 



A UNIVEESITY AND A STATE. 367 

ed the primitive constitution of Connecticut, bad 
gone through a bitter experience in the trial and 
banishment of Eoger WilHams ; and his wiser states- 
manship bade him beware lest, in steering clear of 
the Scylla of anarchy, he should ground his politics 
^on the Charjbdis of bigotry. His wise tact saved 
him from both perils, and enabled him, while never 
interrupting the entente cordiale with Massachusetts, 
to open a friendly intercourse with the Khode Isl- 
and " heretics."" 

A twelvemonth after the arrival of the Pilgrims 
at Hartford, the pioneers were flanked by an inva- 
sion of brother Puritans fresh from England. New 
Haven was planted; and in 1637, Guilford was 
colonized, and then Milford was settled.f These 
were independent of Connecticut, and for upwards 
of forty years formed a separate colony, called 
New Haven. :j: " The settlers," says Cotton Mather, 
" were under the conduct of as holy, and as pru- 
dent, and as genteel j^ersons, as ever visited these 
nooks of New England ; and though they, in a man- 
ner, stole out of Britain, being forbidden to sail, 
yet they dropped here a plantation constellated 
with many stars of the first magnitude ; for if The- 
ophilus Eaton and John Davenport were not bla- 
zing lights, where shall we hunt for meteors ?"§ 

The New-Haveners were traders ; they believed 
more in commerce than in husbandry, and so they 

» Hubbard, Palfrey, Elliot, Mather. 

f Tnimbull, vol. 1. Hubbard, Hist. Col. 

i Ibid. § Magualia, vol. 1, p. 88. 



368 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

" went down to the sea in ships." But in the wil- 
derness traflEic did not yield the dividends which it 
gave on 'change in London, or on the Eialtos of the 
world ; so that in half a decade their stock was 
spent, and they so nearly touched bottom that they 
gladly turned for help to despised agriculture,^ the 
surest base for new states to build on. 

For some months New Haven lacked a charter, 
and so floated rudderless. But eventually the set- 
tlers formed themselves into a body politic by mu- 
tual consent, and signed a kind of constitution in a 
barn;t and this is the first political paj)er that was 
ever cradled in a manger. It was generally secun- 
dum usum Massaclmsettensem,X to follow Cotton Ma- 
ther's barbarous Latin; or, in plain English, after 
the model of the Bay State theocracy. 

" Thus it was," exclaims a jubilant old chroni- 
cler, " that Jesus Christ was Avorshipj)ed in churches 
of an evangelical character in the outermost wil- 
derness ; and from thence, if the inquirer Avere in- 
clined to make a sally across the channel to Long 
Island, he might have seen the congregations of 
our God taking root in those wild wastes. "§ 

The New Haven and Connecticut colonists were 
for many years on the verge of a quarrel with the 
Dutch at New Amsterdam, who felt that in this 
territorial race they had been outstripped and out- 
witted, and were consequently lifted out of their 

* Hubbard, p. 321. Hazard. 

t "The settlers met in Mr. Newman's barn," etc. Elliot, vol. 
1, p. 242. X Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 83. § Ibid. 



A UNIVEESITY AND A STATE. 369 

wonted phlegm by irritation. The "Yankee" and 
the Dutchman carried on a lusty war of words about 
their boundary lines, and for this good reason, there 
were none. Irving tells us that the Dutch disliked 
the smell of onions ; and that the keen Yankee, 
knowing this, planted his rows each year a little 
farther Avest, and before this invasion of onions the 
sad Dutchman always retired with tearful eyes, leav- 
ing the polluted soil to the onion planters. 

But bright as seemed the portents, the colonists 
soon found themselves environed by danger — gir- 
dled by a wall of fire. The hostile Dutchman 
scowled in the west. The untrodden wilderness 
stretched away on the north. Scores of weary, 
pathless miles separated them from their brothers 
on the Atlantic coast. The vengeful Pequods were 
panting for war in the southeast. They had found, 
not peace, but a sword ; their painful enterprise 
seemed but " a lure to draw victims within the 
reach of the tomahawk." Premonitory symptoms 
gave warning that danger lurked in the covert be- 
side every log-house beyond the mountains. Soon 
the woods were ambuscaded, " and the darkness of 
midnight began to glitter with the blaze of the 
frontier cabins." Then shrieked the ghastly Pe- 
quod, smeared in his horrid paint. " Fathers found 
the blood of their sons fattening the wasted corn- 
fields ; mothers were frozen by the war-whoop which 
disturbed the peaceful slumber of the cradle." 



IG* 



370 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

ON THE WAR-TEAIL. 

'• The shout 
Of battle, the barbarian yell, the bray 
Of dissonant instruments, the clang of arms, 
The shriek of agony, the groan of death. 
In one wild uproar and continued din, 
Shake the still air." 

Southet's Madoc. 

'Tis related of a certain keeper of wild beasts at 
Florence, that, after lie had entertained the specta- 
tors in the amphitheatre with their encounters on 
the stage, he had a strange device for forcing them 
back into their dens. A wooden machine, painted 
in the image of a great green dragon, with two 
lighted torches protruding from its sockets as eyes, 
and vomiting sulphurous flame, was wheeled into 
the midst of the herd, and before this onset the 
fiercest animal crawled howling to his cell. 

'Tis an emblem of despotism; it is government 
coercing men by fraud and fear, by appeals to the 
ignorant and brutish instincts. The Pilgrim Fathers 
took a long stride away from that ugly ideal. They 
developed a nobler type of civil polity; and in 
nothing was their temper and Christianity more 
firmly shown than in their treatment of the Indi- 
ans, whom they regarded as the orphaned wards of 
civilization. They were uniformly gentle and obU- 



ON THE WAE-TEAIL. 371 

ging to the savage tribes, and they were invariably 
and inflexibly just in treatment and in requisition. 
Take this for an illustration : In 1636, aii Indian who 
had been on a trading tour to the pale-face settle- 
ments, seated himself towards evening on the day 
of his return in the woods on the edge of a swamp. 
He had with him a parcel of coats, and five pieces 
of wampum, the peaceful trophies of his barter. 
Soon he was accosted by four white men who hap- 
pened to pass. A friendly chat ensued ; the pipe of 
peace was passed ; when suddenly the whites saw 
the coats and the wampum. At once that meanest, 
most unscrupulous imp in Satan's brood, the devil 
of avarice, entered their hearts — avarice, of which 
Decker has said, 

" When all our sins are old in us, 
And go ujion crutches, covetousness 
Does but then lie in her cradle." 

They determined to assassinate the dusky trader 
and filch his goods. Under pretence of shaking 
hands with him, one of the ruffians stabbed him in 
the thigh ; this blow was followed by another, and 
yet another; whereupon the death-smitten savage 
fled. The murderers also departed; and when they 
were gone the Indian crawled back from his forest 
hiding-place and stretched himself across the trail, 
that he might be discovered and receive help. 

This scene was enacted at Pawtucket, near Prov- 
idence, but then within the precincts of Plymoiith 
colony. Some hours after the affray, Roger Wil- 
liams learned from an Indian runner that some 



372 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

pale faces were at Pawtucket almost starved. He 
at once sent the sufferers food and spirits, and a 
cordial invitation to visit his cabin. After some 
delay they came, enlisting the sympathy of their 
kind host b}^ a pitiful tale of loss of way and hunger 
in the forest. Towards ten o'clock all retired. At 
midnight a loud cry was heard. The Indians clam- 
ored at the door for admittance, and to Eoger Wil- 
liams' queries they replied by informing him that 
one of their brothers lay almost dead in the woods 
from wounds inflicted by a party of pale-faces. 
" Have you seen them ?" they shouted. 

Meantime, the murderers, awakened by the cries, 
had fled. They were pursued, and three of the four 
were captured, and arraigned for trial at Plymouth. 
A jury was empannelled, and among the twelve 
" good men and true" were Bradford, and Standish, 
and Prince, and Winslow. - No delay was suffered, 
but the trial was fair and open. The guilt of the 
assassins was clearly proved, and they were sen- 
tenced to be hung.f Three limp forms suspended 
fi"om the gallows-tree a little later, gave most pal- 
pable evidence that justice covered even the tangled 
wilderness morasses with its aegis. It was as cer- 
tain death to kill an Indian in the forests of Amer- 
ica, as to slay a noble in the crowded streets of 
London. 

The effect of this execution was salutary. Its 
strict impartiality pleased the shrewd red men. It 

•^ Bradford, Morton's Memorial, Thatcher, Banvard. 
t Ibid., Prince, Hazard. 



ON THE WAR-TEAIL. 373 

convinced them of the certainty of the colonial pro- 
tection. And kindred acts before had won them to 
surrender that most prominent trait in their habits, 
the evenging of their personal wrongs ; they ad- 
journed their injuries to the justice of the Pilgrim 
courts and invoked the statute, sure that 

" The good need fear no law ; 
It is his safety, and the bad man's awe. " 

But now this old epoch was buried : a new one 
dawned. The Indian surveyed the in-coming pale- 
face tide which seemed always to flow and never to 
ebb. The hunting grounds of his people began to 
disappear. His own domain was restricted — there 
was no longer free range. A farm was here ; a 
clearing was there ; yonder stood a settler's cabin. 
The "medicines" of the red men grew alarmed. 
They asked each other: "Where will this end?" 
To be sure, the settlers held their estates by pur- 
chase ; but the Indians did not always understand 
the value of a bargain from which they reaped no 
benefit ; nor did they at all times recognize the va- 
lidity of contracts made by their sachems, perhaps 
without the knowledge of the tribe, and which alien- 
ated the forest acres of their immemorial inherit- 
ance. 

Heated by memory and by fear, and kindled by 
some occasionally unfriendly acts of the colonists — 
for in so large a population it was impossible that 
all should be just and honest — many of the New 
England tribes grew restless and peevish. A human 
powder magazine yawned beneath the feet of the 



374 THE PILGKIM FATHEKS. 

Pilgrims ; it needed but some bold band to drop 
tbe spark to cause an explosion wliicli migbt un- 
hinge a continent. 

This the Pequods essayed to do. They had long 
been fretful. The Connecticut colonists had be- 
friended a rival and hated tribe, the Mohegans.'^ 
Sassacus, the sachem of the Pequods, and Uncas, 
the Mohegan sagamore, were at deadly enmity. t 
Yet Uncas was the frequent and welcome occupant 
of pale-face cabins from Providence in the east to 
the farthest onion rows which troubled the Dutch- 
men in the west. The Pequods panted for revenge. 
They began to intrigue for a war of extermination. 
Embassies were despatched to inveigle neighboring 
tribes into an alliance against the ever-encroaching 
pale-faces. At the camp-fires of the Wampanoags, 
and in the wigwams of the Narragansetts, the Pe- 
quod orators pleaded their wrongs, sneered at the 
whites, and depicted the ferocious pleasures of the 
war-path to many a credulous and eager listener. 

The forests became pregnant with insurrection, 
and at last a faint whisper of the impending peril 
reached the settlements. White Massachusetts shiv- 
ered. Sir Harry Vane, knowing the influence of 
Boger Williams with the Indians, wrote him urgently 
to balk the Pequod embassadors among the Narra- 
gansetts.:}: At once the founder of Khode Island set 
out; alone in his canoe, through a cutting, stormy 

* Increase Mather's Early Hist, of New England, p. 121, et 
seq. f Ibid. 

t Elton's Life of Roger Williams, p. 54. 



ON THE WAR-TRAIL. 375 

wind, lie pulled across the bay to the forest haunt 
of Canonicus and Miantonomoh." 

" The Pequod diplomats were already at work, 
urging the dark dangers which hung over their uni- 
ted tribes, reiterating the tale of the encroachments 
of the whites, the chicanery, the insolence, the cru- 
elty, which some had practised, and appealing to the 
Indian pride of possession and of race. For three 
days and nights Eoger Williams, in the sachem's 
lodge, mixed with the bloody-minded Pequod em- 
bassadors, and pushed his dangerous opposition to 
the war ; and at last his old friendship and superior 
diplomacy prevailed. Canonicus and Miantonomoh 
repudiated the Pequod league and refused to dig up 
the tomahawk."'!' 

The Pequods, no whit disheartened by this balk, 
determined to fight unassisted, thinking, perhaps, 
that the precipitation of hostilities would fire the 
Indian heart. 

Sassacus, followed by seven hundred:!: pxinted 
and yelling warriors, plunged into the woods and 
opened the war-path. Winding out of their beauti- 
ful nest in southeastern Connecticut, between the 
rivers Pawcatuck and Thames,§ they spread con- 
sternation and the most ghastly form of death 
north, east, south, west. 

According to their habit, the Indians were can- 
s' Elton's life of Koger Williams, p. 54. Elliot, vol. 1, p. 210. 
t ElUot. 

t I. Mather's Early Hist., etc. Palfrey, Bancroft, Elliot, Hutch- 
inson § Ibid. 



376 THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 

tious at the outset. Isolated instances announced 
tlieir hostility. In 1634, Captains Stone and Nor- 
ton sailed up the Connecticut in a coasting smack, 
manned by a crew of eight men. They were steer- 
ing for a Dutch trading station on the river side, 
when tlieir vessel was becalmed. In a flash a fleet 
of canoes were launched from either bank of the 
river, and a swarm of savages surrounded the 
smack. Suspecting no danger, twelve of them were 
permitted to board, and Stone engaged two of these 
to pilot a boat higher up the stream. The guides 
at night murdered the two sailors in charge of this 
shallop,and at the same hour their companions on the 
vessel assailed the sleeping crew. Stone was killed 
secretly in his cabin, and, to conceal the body, a 
light covering was thrown over it. Then the mas- 
sacre extended to the deck and forecastle. Soon 
all were dead save Norton. " He had taken to the 
cook-room on the first alarm, and here he made a 
long and resolute defence. That he might load and 
fire with the greatest expedition, he placed powder 
in an open bowl, just at hand, which, in the hurry 
of action, taking fire, so burned and blinded him 
that he could fight no longer ; whereupon he too 
was tomahawked."* Then the smack was pillaged 
and sunk,t 

Two years later, John 01dham,| while trading 
fairly on the Connecticut, was suddenly set upon 

» White's Incidents, p. 59. I. Mather, Palfrey, Hubbard, Win- 
throp. t IbicL 

J Chap. 17, p. 215, ct seq. 



ON THE WAR-TRAIL. 377 

and brained. His companions, two Narragansett 
Indians and a couple of boys, were kidnapped. - 

A few days after this sad catastrophe, an old 
English sailor, John Gallup, floating on the tranquil 
bosom of the treacherous river in his little shallop 
of twenty tons, manned only by himself, his two 
sons, and one old salt, espied Oldham's pinnace off 
Block Island. He tacked for it and hailed. No 
answer ; a closer survey showed him a deck crowded 
with Indians. Gallup's suspicion was aroused, and 
when the clumsy savages attempted to make sail 
and get away, he regarded the movement as a cover 
to foul play. 

Then one of the most remarkable instances of 
gallantry recorded in the annals of border warfare 
occurred. Gallup, with his single sailor and his two 
little boys, armed only with a couple of rusty mus- 
kets, two pistols, and some buck-shot, prepared for 
action, and this though fourteen savages, heated by 
carnage and drunk with blood, stood ready with 
guns, and pikes, and swords, to repel his assault. 
The wind was fresh, and the audacious captain 
steered directly for the pinnace, and striking it stem 
foremost, nearly upset it ; which so frightened the 
Indians that six of them jumped overboard and 
were drowned. Repeating this manoeuvre— ^in un- 
conscious imitation of the Athenian naval tactics — 
he came stem on again ; for there were still too 
many Indians for him to venture to carry the pin- 
nace by boarding. After this tliumjj, Gallup had 

* Bradford, Morton's Memorial, Hubbard, White. 



378 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

the satisfaction of seeing, as he cleared his vessel 
and stood off once more, four more savages leap 
into a watery grave — for they all sank. Then he 
steered for the battered craft for the third time ; 
whereupon the remaining Indians sought refuge in 
the hold beneath the hatches. Gallup sjorang on the 
deck of poor Oldham's vessel, and there, stretched 
out before his eyes, was the late owner himself, still 
warm, but with cloven skull and amputated hands 
and feet."" 

The savages in the hold were now anxious to 
surrender. Two of them at Gallup's bidding came 
up and were bound; and then, maddened by the 
sight of Oldham's disfigured corpse, the sailor 
plunged the victims into the river. The two re- 
maining savages would not give up their arms or 
come up from under the hatches. GallujD could not 
dig them out ; so he secured the cargo, buried Old- 
ham, and then tying the pinnace to the stern of his 
own victorious shallop, he set sail to tow her to the 
settlements. But in the night it blew hard ; his cap- 
ture Avas detached, and, drifting to the Narragan- 
sett shore, the secreted warriors escaped — two only 
out of fourteent — a swift and sweeping retribu- 
tion. 

The knowledge of these dismal tragedies crept 
slowly into the colonies. News was carried only by 
some coastwise vessel, whose progress, crab-like, was 
backwards ; by some Indian runner often interested 
in being sluggish ; or by some pale sufferer who, trav- 
* Winthrop, pp. 189, 190. f Palfrey, White, Elliot, etc. 



ON THE WAE-TRAIL. 379 

ersing forest, morass, and mountain, was frequently 
Lis own messenger of woe ; for the Pilgrims liad no 
stage-coaclies like their immediate descendants ; no 
good roads, like the men of '76 ; no railway and no 
steamboat, like ourselves ; and above all, no tele- 
graj)h, annihilating space, to 

" Speed tlie swift iutercourse from soul to soul, 
Or waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole." 

But eventually the colonists learned of these spas- 
modic outrages ; and all promptly decided that jus- 
tice and the common weal alike dictated punishment. 
"After consultation with 'the magistrates and min- 
isters,' Sir Harry Vane despatched ninety men down 
Long Island sound, in three small vessels, to the 
seat of war — Block island. The expedition was 
under the chief command of John Endicott, who 
was assisted by four subordinate officers, one of 
whom, Captain John Underhill, wrote an account 
of the foray and of the succeeding and more effec- 
tive one. A sort of Friar Tuck — devotee, bravo, 
libertine, and buffoon — Underhill takes a mem- 
orable place among the eccentric characters who 
from time to time broke what has been altogether 
too easily assumed to have been the dead level of 
New England gravity in those days. He had been 
a soldier in Ireland, in Spain, and more recently 
in the Netherlands, where he 'had spoken freely 
with Count Nassau.' He came over withWiuthroj), 
who employed him to train the Pilgrims in military 
tactics."* 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 458, 459. 



330 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

The expedition, spite of Endicott's skill and Un- 
derliill's bravery and the number of men engaged 
in it, was an essential failure. A few savages were 
shot ; some lodges were burned ; several canoes 
were staved ; and a number of acres of corn were 
despoiled. Indeed, just enough was done to mad- 
den the savages, but not enough to intimidate 
them.* 

In the summer of 1636, Endicott sailed into Bos- 
ton harbor in bloodless triumph. Meantime, his irri- 
tating raid was revenged by a wide-spread assault 
upon the isolated Connecticut colonists.t Every 
tree became a covert. In the long grass, in the mo- 
rasses, in the out-buildings of the settlers, lurked 
the envenomed savages. To step outside those 
block citadels to which all flocked for safety, was 
certain death. Men were kidnapped and roasted 
alive.:!: Traders were waylaid on the rivers and tor- 
tured to death ; and two victims especially were cut 
into two parts lengthwise, each half being hung up 
on a tree by the bank of the Connecticut.§ Women 
and children were captured and reserved for a fate 
worse than death. In the winter of 1637, thirty 
of the two hundred settlers who had colonized 
Connecticut, fell beneath the hatchets of the Pe- 
quods.ll Everywhere the whites were worsted ; even 
at Saybrook, their chief fort, the garrison was held 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 458, 459. I. Mather, Prince, Introduc- 
tion to Mason's Hist, of tlie Peqnocl War. f Ibid. 
X Gardiner's Eelations, etc., in Mass. Hist. Rep., 23. 
§ Ibid., p. 143. Trumbull's Hist. Connecticut, vol. 1, p. 76. 
II Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 462. 



ON THE WAE-TRAIL. 381 

in duress by a besieging band of demoniacal red 
men.* 

New England was trembling on the verge of 
death. For the distressed and harassed Pilgrims 
there seemed no alternative but speedy extermina- 
tion, or such an exercise of courage and skill as 
should effectually overawe the Indians in the full 
flush of their success. Measures were at once ma- 
tured. Massachusetts Bay acted with her accus- 
tomed vigor. It was declared that " the war, since 
it was waged on just grounds and for self-preserva- 
tion, ought to be vigorously prosecuted."t Six hun- 
dred pounds were levied ; one hundred and sixty 
men were recruited.:}: 

At Plymouth similar activity was displayed ; and 
a levy of forty men was made.§ But it was in Con- 
necticut, the menaced spot, that the most herculean 
exertions were put forth. Hartford, Windsor, and 
Wethersfield, placed ninety men in the field, under 
the command of stout John Mason — a sometime 
soldier in the Low Countries under Sir Thomas 
Fairfax, who held him in such esteem that in after- 
years, when at the head of the parliamentary mus- 
ter, he wrote his truant protege urging his return to 
England, that he might lend his skilful sword to the 
patriot cause. II 

Mason, with Hooker's benediction, immediately 

* I. Mather, Gardiner in Mass. Hist. Col., 23. 

t Mass. Hist. Col. Col. Eec, vol. 1, p. 192. t Ibid. 

§ Plym. Col. Eec, vol. 1, pp. 60-G2. 

II Palfrey, nt antea. Prince. Introduction to Mason's Hist, 



382 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

opened a yigorous campaign. Saybrook was rein- 
forced."'^ A subsidiary detacliment of Moliegans, 
under Uncas, was recruited.t The mouth of the 
.Connecticut was made the base of oj)erations, and 
thither the united levies of Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, and Plymouth, were transported. Here a 
council of war was held. After Stone, the chap- 
lain, had sought the divine direction in prayer, it 
was decided to march directly upon the Pequod vil- 
lage off Point Judith.^ All embarked ; the objec- 
tive point was safely reached. Then a storm inter- 
vened; it was impossible to land. The next day 
was Sunday ; it was spent devoutly on shipboard ; 
nor was it until Tuesday evening, the third day 
after they had dropped anchor, that the eager Pil- 
grims touched land.§ 

Mason bivouacked on the sea-shore, and in the 
gray of the next morning commenced the memora- 
ble march. " Seventy-seven brave Englishmen — ■ 
the rest were left in charge of the vessels — sixty 
frightened Mohegans, and four hundred more terri- 
fied Narragansetts, entered the war-trail, and went 
twenty miles westward towards the Pequod coun- 
try, to a fort occupied by some suspected neutrals. 
There a pause for the night was made, and, lest any 
Indian should give the doomed Pequods the alarm, 
the citadel was girt by the sentries of the shrewd 
English captain."l| 

* Mason's "Brief Hist., etc. Hubbard. 

t Trumbull, Mather. % Palfrey, vol. 1. 

§ Ibid., Hubbard, Trumbull, Mather. 

II Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 164. 



ON THE WAR-TEAIL. 383 

Before noon, on the following morning, tliey 
broke camp, and marclied fifteen miles farther 
inland, pausing at nightfall under a hill " which, 
according to information received from their dusky 
allies — who had now all fallen in the rear, 'being 
possessed with great fear' — stood the chief strong- 
hold of the Pequods."* 

Mason could hear the savage revelry of the ill- 
fated and unsuspecting Indians very distinctly, as 
the wind wafted the laughter, the yells, the vaunts, 
from the village over the little hill. The din sank 
and fell till midnight. All were enjoying a general 
guffaw over the English, whose ships they had seen 
sail eastward on the sound, bearing, as they ima- 
gined, the pale-face warriors to tell their squaws of 
their discomfiture.f 

The Pequod fort was a citadel of straw. It "was 
merely a circular acre or two enclosed by trunks of 
trees some twelve feet high, set firmly in the ground, 
and so closely ranged as to exclude entrance, while 
the interstices served as port-holes for marksmen. 
Within, ranged along two parallel lanes, were up- 
wards of seventy wigwams, covered with matting 
and thatch. At the two points for entrance or 
egress, spaces were left between the timbers, the 
intervals being protected only by a slighter struc- 
ture, or by loose branches."! 

Something of all this the curious eyes of the 
Pilgrims took in as they patiently waited for the 

* Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 465. t Ibid., Mason, Underhill. 

J Palfrey, ut antea. 



384 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

midnight order to advance. At length it came ; 
the camj) was broken ; prayers were offered ; the 
Indian aUies fell back to a still safer distance. The 
drowsy Pequod stronghold was surrounded ; Mason 
was on one side, Underhill was on the other. Cau- 
tiously the girdling band crept on, on, on, towards 
the sally-ports, looking like sheeted phantoms in the 
ghastly moonlight. Their hands were on the gates, 
when a dog barked. The Indians were aroused, 
" Owanux ! Owanux !" " The Englishmen are here !" 
came in a hoarse shout from within. Then, with a 
wild " Huzza !" the Pilgrims plunged themselves like 
an avalanche upon the frail and creaking fortress, 
firing the straw in fifty different directions. The 
rest was death ; for it was not a battle — it was a 
massacre. Shouting the watchwords of the Israel- 
ites in Canaan, the Pilgrims smote the Pequods hip 
and thigh, for they knew that safety and peace 
dwelt in every blow — that severity was mercy. 

Soon the explosion of a powder-train made the 
village kick the heavens. Then the flames began 
to wink, and at last to go out. Darkness followetl — 
a darkness made more frightful by the moans of the 
wounded, the fierce panting of those wretches who 
still struggled against fate, and the vindictive yell 
of the Mohegan and Narragansett warriors, now in 
full cry after the dazed and despairing fugitives.* 

At last the sad morning dawned. The dead bod- 
ies of seven hundredf Pequods were counted amid 

* Mason's Brief Account, etc. 

t Ibid., Palfrey. Elliot, I. Mather, Wiuthrop, Hubbard, Hutch- 



ON THE WAR-TRAIL. 385 

the debris of the carnage. There hxy the whole 
nation, 

" In one red biu-iul blent." 

But let us turn from the sickening scene. " Nev- 
er -was a war so just or so necessary," remarks Pal- 
frey, " that he who should truly exhibit the details 
of its prosecution would not find the sympathy of 
gentle hearts deserting him as he proceeded. Be- 
tween right policy and the suffering which some- 
times it brings upon individuals, there is a wide 
chasm, to be bridged over by an argument with 
which the heart does not naturally go. "When, for 
urgent reasons of public safety, it has been deter- 
mined to take the desperate risk of sending the 
whole available force of a community into tlie field 
to encounter desperate odds, and certain to be set 
on, if worsted, by neutral thousands, the awful con- 
ditions of the venture forbid daintiness in the means 
of achieving the victory, or about using it in such a 
manner as to veto the chance of incurring the same 
peril again. At all events, from the hour of that 
fatal carnage Connecticut was secure. There could 
now be unguarded sleep in the long-harassed cab- 
ins of the settlers. It might be hoped tliat civiliza- 
tion was assured of a permanent abode in New Eng- 
land."* 

Mason followed up his victory, like an able sol- 
dier as he was. After the fatal night attack, Sas- 

inson. Two of the English were killed, and upwards of forty — 
more than half of the force — were wounded. 
• Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 4G7. 

niirrini Fi.theif.. 17 



386 THE PILGKIM FATHEES. 

sacus and the remnant of liis undone tribe fled 
westward.* They were overtaken, and forced to 
fight in a swamp and in a panic. Then there was 
another massacre ; and two hundred prisoners were 
captured, besides a booty of trays, kettles, and wam- 
pum. t The Pequod chieftain once more baffled 
fate, and with a body of twenty warriors sought an 
asyhim among the Mohawks, on tlie banks of the 
Hudson, where the unhappy' sagamore, bereaved of 
people and of country, was himself treacherously 
slain, his scalp-lock being sent as a trophy to the 
pale-face conquerors.:]: 

At the same time two other chiefs were hunted 
down at a point east of New Haven. Here they 
were beheaded; and the spot — now a famoias sum- 
mer resort — has been called since that day " Sa- 
chem's Head."§ 

It is sad to relate that this awful slaughter was 
crowned by the enslavement of the wretched sur- 
vivors of the fight. When Mason returned to Hart- 
ford, bringing the retinue of his command with him, 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, needing laborers, 
and blind to the injustice, divided the human booty ; 
and with Rhode Island, which pvirchased some of 
the victims, they must share the guilt.ll But in this 
the Pilgrims did not sin against the spirit of their 
age. It was not an insurrection against the con- 

* Mason, Hubbard, Hazard, Trumbull. f Ibid., Elliot. 

I Trumbull, Mason, Winthrop, Hist. Coll. 
§ Elliot, vol. 1, p. 257. Trumbull. 

II Ibid. Hutchinson, vol. 1. p. 80. Winthrop, vol. 1. Palfrey. 



ON THE WAE-TRAIL. 387 

science of that epoch, for the flagitious practice was 
universal. Human slavery had not yet been brand- 
ed as infamous amid the scornful execrations of 
mankind. 

Thus in death and captivity closed the career of 
a gallant tribe. They threw themselves before the 
chariot-wheels of progress, and were crushed ; they 
essayed to check God, and were overthrown. Like 
ancient Agag, they were hewn in pieces. In its 
first warlike bout with barbarism, civilization was 
the victor, and went crowned with bays. 



«rv 



388 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

CHAPTEE XXX. 

DE PEOFUNDIS. 

"We have strict statutes and most biting laws, 
The needful bits and curbs to headstrong steeds." 

Shakspeaee. 

The Pilgrim Fathers were not students of Gode- 
fridus de Valle's odd book, "Z^e Arte Nihil Cre- 
dendi" — The Art of believing Nothing. They did 
believe, from the bottom of their hearts; and, in 
obedience to Paul, they strove to "hold fast" that 
which they esteemed "good." They had two pas- 
sions, devotion to the common weal as citizens, and 
to the interests of the church as Christians. " They 
regarded themselves, not as individual fugitives 
from trans-Atlantic persecution, but rather as con- 
federates in a political association for religious pur- 
poses."'-^ From this idea their mixed government 
naturally evolved; and this, in its turn, gave birth 
to the principle that the magistrate was armed with 
power to suppress all phases of internal opposition 
to the theocracy; because that type of authority 
logically carried in its train the necessary condi- 
tions of its perpetuity. 

They neither invited nor desired the intrusion 
of elements at variance with their ideas; and to 
such they said, pointing to the broad continent, 

* Uhden's New England Theocracy, p. 135. 



DE PKOFUNDIS. 389 

" There is room ; leave us in peace." And to se- 
cure themselves from molestation, it was enacted, 
in 1637, that " none should be received into the ju- 
risdiction of Massachusetts Bay but such as should 
be welcomed by the magistrates"* — a provision 
somewhat analogous to the alien law of England 
and to the European policy of passports.f 

Singularly enough, Massachusetts Bay, spite of 
its exclusive policy, possessed from the very outset 
a strong charm in the eyes of those who dissented 
from its formulas. Like the Petit 3Ionsieur who 
found himself left out of the tapestry which exhib- 
ited the story of the Spanish invasion, they longed 
to work themselves in the hangings of colonial his- 
tory. They soon swarmed in Boston and Salem ; 
and notwithstanding the banishment of Roger Will- 
iams, the "heretics" continued to thrive. 

Ere long the public mind *' was excited to intense 
activity on questions which the nicest subtlety only 
could have devised, and which none but those expe- 
rienced in the shades of theological opinion could 
long comprehend ; for it goes with these opinions 
as with colors, of which the artist who works in 
mosaic easily and regularly discriminates many 
thousand varieties, where the common eye can 
discern a difference only on the closest compari- 
son.":]: 

From this fermentation there bubbled up a pro- 
found and bitter struggle. The strife filled the in- 

* Winthroi^, jHiitcliiuson, Hubbard, Col. Eocords, etc. 

t Bancroft, -.ol. 1. p. 389. % Il>id., p. 386. 



390 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

terstices of the Pequod war, wliose prosecution it 
sadly crippled; and indeed, at one time it threat- 
ened to rend the colony by civil war.* 

Two distinct parties were early developed. One 
was composed chiefly of the older colonists, headed 
by Dudley, and Phillips, and Wilson, and Win- 
throp, an able coalition of clergymen and politi- 
cians. These were earnest to preserve the state 
as it was. They discountenanced innovation, and 
" dreaded freedom of opinion as the parent of vari- 
ous divisions." They said, " These cracks and flaws 
in the new building of the Keformation portend a 
fall."t They were anxious " to confirm and build 
up the colony, child of their prayers and sorrows; 
and for that they desired patriotism, union, and a 
common heart." They dreaded change, because 
they knew that, 

''Striving to better, oft we mar wliat's well." 

The other party was iconoclastic. It was "com- 
posed of men and women who had arrived in New 
England after the civil government and religious 
discipline of the Pilgrims had been established.":]: 
They felt cramped under the theocracy ; and hav- 
ing come self-banished to the wilderness to enjoy 
toleration, they resisted every form of despotism 
over the human mind, and " sustained with intense 
fanaticism the paramount authority of private judg- 
ment." " They came," observes Bancroft, " fresh 
from the study of the tenets of Geneva, and their 

* Uhden, Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard. 

f Shepherd's Lamentation, 2. % Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 387. 



DE PKOFUNDIS. 391 

pride consisted in following the principles of the 
Keformation with logical precision to all their con- 
sequences. Their eyes were not primarily directed 
to the institutions of Massachusetts, but to the doc- 
trines of its religious system ; so to them the colo- 
nial clergy seemed ' the ushers of a new persecu- 
tion,' 'a popish faction,' who had not imbibed the 
principles of Christian reform ; and they applied to 
the influence of the Pilgrim ministers the doctrine 
which Luther and Calvin had employed against 
the observances and pretensions of the Roman 
church. "^•' 

There is an old Latin proverb, 

"Nulla fere causa est, in qua nou ficmiiia litem 
Moverit."f . 

The life and soul of the crusade against the the- 
ocracy was Anne Hutchinson, whom Johnson styled, 
"the chiefest masterpiece of woman's wit.";|: An- 
tedating the Cordays, the Rolands, and the De 
Staels by more than a dozen decades, she was the 
equal, in tact, and zeal, and honest conviction, of 
the best of those brilliant women who, in the salons 
of the French capital, inspired the revolution of 1793. 

Anne Hutchinson was the wife of a Boston mer- 
chant, the daughter of a Puritan preacher in Eng- 
land, and had been one of John Cotton's most de- 
voted parishioners ere he was driven into exile. § 

* Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 387. 

t There are few controversies where a woman is not at the 
bottom of them. J See Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 388. 

§ Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 472, et seq. 



392 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

In 1634 slie followed that eminent divine to Amer- 
ica, and was received into bis cliurcli at Boston,* 
spite of some strange theories which she had avowed 
on shipboard.'!' Her active benevolence and unflag- 
ging kindness to the sick soon wedded to her many 
hearts.:]; She planted herself deep in the affections 
of the city. 

The male members of the Boston church had a 
habit of taking notes of the seimon on Sunday, and 
then holding week-da}^ meetings for the recapitula- 
tion and discussion of the doctrines advanced§ — 
a very commendable practice. Mrs. Hutchinson, 
thinking perhaps that woman's influence and intel- 
lect were not sufficiently recognized in the church, 
inaugurated a similar series of week-day conventi- 
cles for the ladies of Boston.il 

Mrs. Hutchinson's lectures — for she was ever 
the chief speaker — attracted crowds, and they were 
countenanced by Sir Harry Vane, who then occu- 
pied the gubernatorial chair, and by his host, John 
Cotton ;1[ below whom stood a crowd of warm ad- 
herents, flanked by John Wheelwright the clerical 
brother-in-law of the lady speaker, and by the hearty 
influence of John Coddington one of the wealthiest 
of the colonists.** "Thus the women," says Cot- 
ton Mather, " like their first mother, hooked in the 
husbands also."tt 

* Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 200. f Ibid., Hubbard. 

t Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 473. § Ibid. Magualia, vol. 2, p. 516. 

jl Ibid. , Elliot, Hutchinson, Uliden. 

IT Palfrey, Winthrop, Elliot, Hubbard, etc. 

** Ibid., Col. Records. ft Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 509. 



DE PEOFUNDIS. 393 

Soon the vigorous and daring mind of Anne 
Hutchinson struck off new watchwords. Much was 
said of a " Covenant of Works " and a " Covenant 
of Grace," and between these many fine distinctions 
were made. " Under these heads she and her 
friends classified the preachers of the Bay. Those 
who were understood to rely upon a methodical 
and rigid observance of their religious duties as 
evidence of acceptance with God were said to be 
'under a covenant of works.' Those who held to 
certain spiritual tenets were ranged ' under the 
covenant of grace.' These phrases began to be 
banded to and fro. ' Justification' and 'sanctifica- 
tion' were in all mouths ; even children jeered each 
other; and there was no stemming the heady cur- 
rent of discussion as it swept on.""* 

Winthrop and his coadjutors looked upon the 
debate with equal horror and alarm. Two words, 
which were then common, expressed to them a 
vague but frightful danger ; Antinomianism was 
one, and Familism was the other. The Antinomi- 
ans were a sect of German extraction, and their 
name meant against tJie Laiv ; for they held that 
" the gospel of Christ had superseded the law of 
Moses."t But the word had been made the shelter 
of sad excesses and many base acts, so that it was 
in bad odor among the Pilgrims, who esteemed Anti- 
nomianism to be a cloak to cover the naked form 
of license.:}; 

Familism had been nursed into vicious life in 
* Elliot, vol. 1, p. 2C3. t Ibid. \ Ibid. 



894 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

Holland ; where, in 1555, Henry Nicholas formed a 
" Family of Love," who, in their opinions, " grieved 
the Comforter, charging all their sins on God's 
Spirit, for not effectually assisting them against 
themselves."* The Familists had long been numer- 
ous, factious, and dangerous, in England, and their 
practice was even worse than their doctrine ; for 
their laxity of morals made them the sappers of 
social order, t 

Anne Hutchinson does not seem to have been 
inoculated with the virus of Familism ; but she was, 
of course, an Antinomian, since she assailed the 
theocratic law; and therefore, to the heated minds 
of the Pilgrims, she might easily appear to be the 
fleshly tabernacle of both — the incarnation of her- 
esy. 

Meantime the debate grew in bitterness. Mrs. 
Hutchinson, when taunted with Familism and Anti- 
nomianism, retorted by nicknaming her foes Legal- 
ists ; "because," she said, "you are acquainted nei- 
ther with the spirit of the gospel nor with Christ 
himself.";]: Boston echoed the phrase with wild 
delight, and " Legalist ! Legalist ! Legalist !" was 
dinned into the ears of the clergy of the Bay. 

Winthrop and his friends were exasperated, and 
they invoked the courts to interfere. Several of the 
Antinomians were heavily fined.§ "Wheelwright, 
who, in a fast-day sermon, had strenuously main- 

* Fuller's Cli. Hist, of England, vol. 2, pp. 514, 515, et. seq. 

* Ibid. t Uhden, p. 98. 
§ Winthi-op, vol. 1, p. 203. Hubbard, Palfrey, Hazard. 



DE PEOFUNDIS. 395 

tained the Antinomian tenets, was formally cen- 
sured by the General Court for sedition.* 

Then the innovators were, in their turn, angered. 
" The fear of God and the love of neighbors was 
laid by;" Mrs. Hutchinson and her adherents clam- 
ored all the louder ; and Vane, disgusted and dis- 
j)irited, tendered his resignation, and craved per- 
mission to retiirn to England ;t but " the expostu- 
lations of the Boston church finally turned him from 
his design," and kept him at his post.:|: 

Meanwhile Wheelwright, provoked at his cen- 
sure, had appealed to England. This wrecked 
Vane's administration, and ruined the Antinomian 
cause; for the patriotic feeling of the colony ran so 
high, that " it was accounted perjury and treason to 
appeal to the king."§ In the elections of 1637 pub- 
lic opinion was made manifest; Winthrop, with the 
towns and the churches at his back, outvoted Vane, 
whose sole support was Boston, and the fathers of 
the colony once more grasped the helm. 11 

Winthrop originated, enacted, and defended the 
alien law.^ This found in Vane an inflexible oppo- 
nent ; and, using the language of the time, he left a 
memorial of his dissent. " Scribes and Pharisees, 
and such as are confirmed in any way of error" — 
these are the remarkable words of the man who 
soon embarked for England, where he afterwards 

* Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 203. Hubbard, Palfrey, Hazard, Col. 
Records. f Pulfrey, vol. 1, pj). 475, 476. Winthrop. 

I Ibid. § I\yu\. , Bancroft, Elliot, Hutchinson. 

II Ibid. Uhden, p. 96. H Winthrop, Palfrey 



396 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

pleaded in Parliament for the liberties of all classes 
of dissenters — " all sucli are not to be denied cohab- 
itation, but are to be pitied and reformed. Ishmael 
shall dwell in the presence of his brethren."* 

Now that the founders of the colony had emerged 
from their brief eclipse and regained their pristine 
influence, they decided to initiate measures which 
should definitely silence the unseemly " noise about 
the temple." An ecclesiastical synod was con- 
vened.t Assembling in the summer of 1637, it 
branded eighty-two opinions then in vogue as he- 
retical, and summoned Anne Hutchinson, Wheel- 
wright, and others of that "ilk," to their bar for 
examination.:!: 

They appeared ; and Cotton, who had satisfied 
his brother clergymen of his orthodoxy, tainted for 
a space by his connection with the Antinomians, 
was set to examine Mrs. Hutchinson ; " which was 
hard for him to do, and bitter for her to endure; 
for she had been his irrotexjey^ 

This remarkable woman was now in her element. 
She was calm, and she was firm, and she was keen; 
for, 

'• Spirits are not finely toi;ched 
But to fine issues." 

But one bold avowal sealed her doom. " We have," 
she said, " a new rule of practice by immediate rev- 

* Cited in Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 390. 

t C. Mather's Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 510. Palfrey, Hubbard. 
% Ibid. , Hutchinson's Coll. , Neale's Hist, of New England. 
§ Elliot, vol. 1, p. 267. 



DE PEOFUNDIS. 397 

elations ; by these we guide our conduct. Not that 
we expect any revelation in the way of a miracle ; 
that is a delusion; but we despise the anathemas 
of your synods and courts, and will still follow the 
whisperings of conscience."* 

This speech caused wide -spread alarm. It 
seemed to squint towards anarchy. " The true 
parents of the brats began to discover themselves," 
quaintly comments old Mather, " when the synod 
lifted the sword ujjon tliem."t An insurrection of 
lawless fanatics, " like a Munster tragedy," seemed 
brewing. The magistrates decided that the danger 
was desperate ; that Anne Hutchinson was " like 
Roger Williams, or worse -"X ^i^c^ so, says Win- 
throp, " we applied the last remedy, and that with- 
out delay."§ 

Anne Hutchinson, Wheelwright, and Aspinwall, 
were solemnly exiled as "unfit for the society" of 
the Pilgrims ; and those of their followers who 
remained were ordered to deliver up their arms, 
lest they should, " upon some revelation, make a 
sudden insurrection."!! 

Thus ended the ecdesiarum prcdiaM " And 
thus," says Cotton Mather, " Avas the hydra be- 
headed — hydra decapitata.'''''^^' " This legislation 
may be reproved for its jealousy, but not for its 
cruelty; for it condemned the "heretics" to a ban- 

* Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 390. 

f C. Mather's Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 512. 

\ Winthrop in Hutchinson's Coll. § Winthrop's Journal. 

II Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 391. IT Battles of the Churches. 

** Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 508. 



398 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

ishment not more severe than many of the best of 
the Pilgrims had encountei'ecl from choice." But 
it is a sad chapter ; and perhaps the old divine was 
right when he wrote, " What these errors were 't is 
needless now to repeat ; they are dead and gone, 
and buried past resurrection ; 't is a pity to strive 
to rake them from their graves."* 

The exiles, followed by great numbers of pros- 
elytes, on quitting Massachusetts Bay; wandered 
southward, " designing to plant a settlement on 
Long Island, or near Delaware Bay. But Roger 
Williams welcomed them to his vicinity," and ob- 
tained for them a resting-place. They colonized 
Bhode Island, or Aquitneck, as it was then called. 
" It was not price nor money that got Kliode Isl- 
and," wrote Williams ; " it was gotten by love ; by 
the love and favor which that honorable gentleman. 
Sir Harry Yane, and myself, had with that great 
sachem, Miantonomoli."t 

Being thus held by the same tenure that Provi- 
dence owned, Aquitneck was based upon the self- 
same principle of intellectual liberty; and though 
the two were not united in one state until after the 
Restoration, they clasj)ed hands in equal brother- 
hood, and were buoyed by toleration. 

Thus the principles of Anne Hutchinson, thrown 
out of Massachusetts, sprouted in Rhode Island, 

■~ Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 512. 

t Knowles' Life of William.s, Elton. i\Ii's. Hutchinson, some 
years after her exile, suffered a melancholy fate, being tomahawked 
by the savages. See Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 393, 394. 



DE PKOFUNDIS. 399 

and grew a well-ordered, sober state. A liappy 
result jflowed from an unliapiDj cause. 

And now for a season internecine strife was 
hushed. All eyes were directed across the water. 
" The angels of the trans- Atlantic churches, sound- 
ing forth their silver trumpets, heard the sound of 
rattling drums" on every European breeze.* De- 
mocracy was about to assert itself in England. The 
Pilgrim Fathers grasped hands, and silently marked 
the lesson ; which was, that "courtiers, bishops, and 
kings, too, have a joint in their necks." 

* Jobiison's Wonder-working Providence, p. 96. 



400 THE PILGKIM FATHEKS. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE CHART AND THE PILOTS. 

" And sovereign law, the state's collected will, 
O'er thrones and globes elate, 
Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill." 

Sir AVilliam Jones. 

"To do the genteel deeds — that makes the gentleman." 

Chaucek. 

'Tis a trite saying, that legislation reflects char- 
acter. The penal code of a state mirrors the cul- 
ture, the thought, and the habits of its citizens ; be- 
cause laws grow from men's exigencies. Of course, 
the Pilgrims had a legal chart, and they wrote its 
quaint characters in the ink of their peculiarities. 
Unlike our statute-book, it made no fine distinc- 
tions and it used no legal fictions, but was very 
simple and very plain ; results due to the primitive 
social customs of the colonies, to the lack of law- 
yers, and to the constant effort to avoid litigation; 
for in those days they did not mean 

'• With subtle cobweb cheats, 

To catch in knotted law, like nets; 

In which, when men are once imbrangled, 

The more they stir, the more they're tangled." 

The founders of New England had little sympa- 
thy with, and made no provision for, legal legerde- 
main. They were much too earnest and honest to 



THE CHAKT AND THE PILOTS. 401 

admire that kind of justice which Pope has satir- 
ized : 

'• Once — says an author, wlaere I uced not say — 
Two travellers found an oyster in their way : 
Both fierce, both hungry, the dispute grew strong, 
When, scale in hand, dame Justice passed along. 
Before her each with clamor pleads the laws, 
Explains the matter, and woiild win the cause. 
Dame Justice, weighing long the doubtful right, 
Takes, opens, swallows it, before their sight. 
The cause of strife removed so rarely well, 
' There take '—says Justice — ' take you each a shell. 
We thrive at Westminster on fools like you: 
'T was a fat oyster — live in peace — adieu. ' " 

But while the Pilgrims knew nothing of law as 
a vehicle for quarrels to ride on and for trickery to 
drive, they made use of it as a bit to curb disorder. 
" Some of their enactments exhibit profound wis- 
dom, sagacity, and forecast ; others show their 
strong attachment to the precej)ts of the Bible ; and 
still others descend to matters of such trivial nature 
as to appear puerile ; yet of these it may be said 
that they are preventive. The Pilgrims believed in 
nipping crime in the bud. The things forbidden 
may have been, in themselves, comparatively unim- 
portant ; but their influence, if unchecked, might 
have led to gross offences. By destroying the seed 
of wickedness, they labored to prevent the fruits."* 

Very evidently the colonists were not free tra- 
ders, for, three years after the landing at Plymouth 
Bock, a protective law was passed, by which it was 
enacted that " no handicraftsmen, as shoemakers, 
tailors, carj)enters, joiners, smiths, and sawyers, be- 
* Banvard, p. 200. 



402 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

longing to this plantation, shall work for any stran- 
gers and foreigners until the domestic necessities 
be served."* And at the same time, in order to 
prevent the return of a famine which had repeat- 
edly visited them, it was enacted that "until farther 
orders, no corn, beans, or peas, be exported, under 
penalty of a confiscation of such exj)orts."t 

Marriage was held to be a civil contract,^ and 
the intention to marry was to be published fourteen 
days, including three Sabbaths, before the union, 
and was then to be consummated only on the con- 
sent of the parents or guardian of the lad}^, if she 
were under "parental covert."§ 

Denial of the Scriptures as the rule of life, was 
an indictable offence, and was punishable by whip- 
ping ; so were violations of the Sabbath, the neg- 
lecting of public worship, and slander.H Once a 
Miss Boulton, on conviction of slander, was con- 
demned to the humiliating punishment of sitting in 
the stocks, with a paper fastened to her breast on 
which were written the details of her offence in capi- 
tal letters.!" At another time, two men were simi- 
larly dealt with for having disturbed a meeting;"* 
and this same court also " sharply reproved John 
Whitson for writing a note on common business on 
the Lord's day."tt Women who abused their hus- 
bands or who struck their fathers-in-law, were fined 
or whipped at the option of the magistrate.Jt 

* Thatcher's New Plymouth, Banvard. 

f Charter and Laws of New Plymouth. J Ibid., Banvard. 

§ Ibid. II Ibid. IT Ibid. ** Ibid. ff Ibid. tt Ibid. 



THE CHAET AND THE PILOTS. 403 

Very odd and very arbitrary all this seems to 
us ; but it came naturally from the theocratic idea, 
which subordinated every other interest to religion. 
And with all its singularities, it must be confessed 
that the Pilgrim code was, as a whole and at that 
time, adapted to secure a higher moral character to 
the community than would have been attained by 
the naturalization of the then existing laws of any 
other people.* 

Occasionally, "whales used to be driven ashore, 
whereupon the Pilgrims would obtain oil from 
them. Ere long it was ordained that when such an 
incident occurred, or when any whale was cut up at 
sea and brought into port, one full hogshead of oil 
should be paid to the state ;"t and this was the first 
impost, from which have grown the custom-houses 
of our age. 

The court which framed this law also proposed, 
" as a thing very commendable and beneficial to the 
towns where God's providence cast whales, that all 
should agree to set apart some portion of such fish 
or oil for the encouragement of an able, godly min- 
istry.":}: 

But the chief strength of New England lay in 
the Puritan homes. These were the nurseries of 
Christian freemen. Good could hardly fail to result 
when " parents were required to see that their chil- 
dren were taught to read the Scriptures and to recite 
some short orthodox catechism, without the book ; 

Banvard, p. 211. t Charter and Laws, etc. 

1 Banvard, ut antea. 



404 THE PILGRIM FATHERS, 

and when they ' brought up ' their f amihes to some 
honest calHng that made them useful to themselves 
and to the commonwealth." 

The New England towns were perfect democra- 
cies. " Their formation was promoted by the dread 
of, and danger from, Indians, and also by the de- 
mand for churches and schools. The settlers, there- 
fore, did not scatter widely upon large plantations, 
but collected in villages, with their farms around 
them. The town-meetings were held annually — 
usually in the spring — and every voter was expected 
to be present to take his part in the direction of 
affairs ; this was looked upon as a chief duty ; and 
it was held that a man who would not use his lib- 
erty and do this duty was no good citizen. The 
roll of voters was often called, and the absentees 
were each fined eighteen pence. At first they met 
in the church ; but eventually each town provided 
itself with a town-house, in which to conduct its busi- 
ness and hold its courts. When the meetings came 
to order, some grave and good citizen was chosen 
moderator. Then the town business was brought 
Mp in order. Motions were made, briefly debated, 
and voted upon. Matters passed at one meeting- 
were often reversed at a subsequent one, and the 
minutes read, ' Undone next meeting.' The voters 
granted lands, established and repaired mills, roads, 
and ferries, and took order as to clearing commons, 
paying the schoolmaster, raising the salary of the 
minister, and electing deputies to the General Court. 
In every town from three to seven ' prudential men,' 



THE CHAET AND THE PILOTS. 405 

afterwards called ' select men,' were appointed to 
administer the town affairs between the annual 
meetings ; and these held petty courts, decided mi- 
nor cases, and acted as referees in most disputes. 
Such was the nursing on which these states grew 
up a congeries of towns, true and strong and free."* 

Among the many peculiarities of the Pilgrim Fa- 
thers, perhaps the oddest trait was either their lack 
of ambition or their sober sense of the responsibili- 
ties of office, whose honors and emoluments so little 
tempted them, that even the position of governor 
went begging. Indeed, they had to be pricked up 
to their duty by statute ; for in 1632 it was provided 
that if any one should refuse to sit in the guberna- 
torial chair, after election, he should be fined twenty 
pounds.f Winthrop, under the year 1633, makes 
this record : " This 3'ear, Mr. Edward Winslow was 
elected governor of Plymouth, and Mr. Bradford, 
having been governor about ten years, 7io2v got off by 
importunitTj.'^X 

How much happier we are in our age, for now- 
a-days thousands of devoted patriots are perfectly 
willing to lay their privacy upon the altar of their 
country by accepting any office, from a snuggery in 
the custom-house to the presidency of the Repub- 
lic. They only beg to be used. Men no longer cite 
that speech of the father of Themistocles, who, in 
attempting to dissuade his son from government, 
showed him the old, discarded oars which the Gre- 

o Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 183, 184. f Chap. 12, p. 151. 

X Winthrop, vol 1. 



406 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

cian mariners had thrown away upon the sea-shore, 
and said : " See ; the people will certainly treat their 
old rulers with the same contempt." 

But if the Pilgrims did not accept office readily, 
they did not hold it lightly. No ; they were real 
rulers, not cockades masquerading in the garb of 
authority. Thej' took high views of their duties, 
and believed with Agapetus, that " the loftier the 
station one reaches in the government, the truer 
should be his devotion to the service of God;"* and 
they were sensible of what Cotton Mather styles 
that "great sti^ke" of Cicero: "Nulla re j;)ropius 
Jiomvnas ad Deum accedimt, quam scdutem liominihus 
dando" — men approach nearest to the character of 
God in doing good to mankind. 

" The word government properly signifies the 
guidance of a sMjj. Tully uses it in that sense ; and 
in Plutarch the art of steering a vessel is called gov- 
ernment.f New England is a little ship that has 
weathered many storms, and it is but fair that those 
who have stood at the helm of the ship should be 
remembered in its story." Let us mention one or 
two of these honored pilots. 

With Wilham Bradford, the eldest cf the New 
England governors, we are already acquainted. 
Born in 1588, he had come to America in the prime 
of his life, and devoted himself to God and the com- 
monweal. He was "looked on as a common blessing 
and father to all," and he lived long enough to see 

» Quo quis in reiKiblicu majorem dignitatis gradum ade^Dtus 
est, eo Deum colat submissius." f TexvT/ nvjSepvijnKri. 



THE CHAET AND THE PILOTS. 407 

those high hopes with which he had embarked in 
the "Mayflower" more than reahzed; for the wil- 
derness refuge was thronged and prosperous bej'ond 
his wildest dreams.* He was fully appreciated at 
Plymouth ; and with the exception of five years' 
respite, when he " got off" by his " importunity," 
he was reelected governor with annual regularity 
until death promoted him to a higher station.t 

Bradford's administration of affairs as connected 
with the many vexatious questions arising from the 
difficulty with the Merchant-adventurers and with 
the English partners of the " Undertakers," was a 
model of firmness, wisdom, patience, forbearance, 
and energy. So also in his benevolent determina- 
tion to bring over the rest of the Leyden exiles at 
whatever cost, he showed the fineness and beauty 
of his character. " Under the pressure of misfor- 
tune, his example was a star of hope, for he never 
yielded to despondency ; and while, with Brewster, 
he threw the Pilgrims upon God for support and 
provision, he never neglected to set in motion every 
possible instrumentality for procuring supplies.":]; 
Patient, sagacious, devout, heroic, he was the very 
ideal of a Christian ruler. 

"We are assured by Cotton Mather that Bradford 
was " a person for study as well as for action ; and 
hence, notwithstanding the difficulties through which 
he passed in his boyhood, he attained a notable 
skill in languages. The Dutch tongue was almost 

• He died iu 1657, in his sixty-niutb year. 

f Thatcher, Wilson, Mather, etc. | Plymouth Pilgrims, p. 227. 



408 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

as vernacular to liini as the Engiisli ; the French he 
could also manage ; the Latin and the Greek he had 
mastered; but the Hebrew he most of all studied, 
' Because,' he said, ' I would see with my own eyes 
the ancient oracles of God in their native beauty.' 
He was also well skilled in history, in antiquity, and 
in philosophy ; and for theology, he became so versed 
in it, that he was an irrefragable disputant."* 

But the crown of his shining life was not his 
genius in executive affairs, or the journal which he 
has bequeathed to us as a record of the cost at 
which he built at Plymouth Eock ; it was " his holy, 
prayerful, fruitful walk with God," and this made 
him, in a better sense than Plato meant, 

"The shepherd-guardian of his human fold." 

Bradford's immediate successors at Plymouth 
were Edward Winslow and Thomas Prince, men of 
the same mould, and whose lives exhaled the self- 
same fragrance. " Where the rulers are Christians 
the state prospers,'' was the old proverb, and in 
their case it was once more verified. 

John Winthrop was the foremost man in Massa- 
chusetts. He was educated, he was gentlemanl}', 
and he had been rich, but he spent his fortune " in 
the furtherance of God's work," bidding his son not 
mourn for it, but " certainly expect a liberal portion 
in the prosperity and blessing of the future."t He 
was a man of much gentleness and amiability ; and 

« Magnalia, vol. 1, pp. 113. 114. 

t Letter to John Winthrop the Younger, cited in Magnalia, vol. 
1, p. 161. 



THE CHAET AND THE PILOTS. 409 

" liis private life was charming" as it crops out in 
liis exquisite letters to his Avife, ayIio remaiuecl for a 
time in England.'" 

He carried his admirable temper into public life. 
He had always an oj)en hand of charity. When 
Roger Williams was banished, he wrote him pri- 
vately to sustain and encourage him, and even sug- 
gested Narragansett Bay as a safe asylum.t He 
was always inclined to lenient ways ; and when in 
his later daj'S he was asked to sign an order for the 
banishment of an offending minister, he declined, 
remarking : " No, I have done too much of that 
already.":}: With this natural bent towards liberality, 
it was only with extreme reluctance that he yielded 
to the imperious spirit of intolerance which then 
reigned. 

As governor, he was prudent, patient, coura- 
geous, and energetic — traits which made him the 
successful pilot of the ship of state in the unchar- 
tered waters on which he floated, 

Winthrop never disdained to share equally with 
his brother Pilgrims. It is related of him that once, 
in a famine, he divided his last peck of meal with a 
hungry man, and was only not gnawed by hunger 
himself, because a shij) entered Salem harbor ere 
night with a well-stocked larder, and changed the 
fast which had been appointed for the next day into 
a thanksgiving.§ 

« Elliot. Life of J. Winthrop, by K. C. Winthrop, Boston, 1866. 

t Williams' Letter to Mason. Knowles, Elton. 

t Wilson, p. 494. § Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 23. 

Pll!rilTnP.,tli<..» 18 



410 THE PILGRIM FATHEES. 

He knewliow to conquer hearts by kindness. One 
hard winter, complaint was made to him that a man 
stole regularly to his Avoodpile and abstracted fuel. 
"Does he ?" asked Winthrop ; " send him to me ; I'll 
cure him." The quaking wretch was brought in and 
expected to hear a rigorous sentence. " Friend," 
said he, " it is a cold winter, and I fear you are but 
poorly provided with wood to meet it. You are 
welcome to supply yourself at my pile till winter is 
over."* 

Winthrop's " religion shone out through all his 
life, and gave a higher lustre to his character. He 
was zealous for truth and righteousness. Often he 
bore witness to the minister in the midst of the con- 
gregation ; and frequently he visited the neighbor- 
ing towns to prophesy, as it was called, or as we 
say, exhort. He had admirers not only in America, 
but in England and at court. ' 'T is a pity,' re- 
marked Charles I., ' that such a worthy gentleman 
should have banished himself to the hardships of a 
wilderness life.' "t 

In Massachusetts the colonists believed in rota- 
tion in office ; consequently, Winthrop was often 
displaced froya the gubernatorial chair, and then 
replaced again. He always filled the post with 
dignity and with untarnished honor ; so that on his 
death at sixty, worn out by toil and care, he might 
have torn his books of account, as Scipio Africanus 
did, and said: "A flourishing colony has been led 
out and settled under my direction. I have spent 
<* Wilson. f Shawmut ; or the Settlement of Boston, p. 86. 



THE CHAET AND THE PILOTS. 411 

my fortune and myself in its service. "Waste no 
more time in harangues, but give tlianks to God."* 

Winthrop's great rival in influence and position 
was stern Thomas Dudle3^ His views corresponded 
far more completely with the theocratic formulas 
than did those of his mild and somewhat pliant 
friend. Dudley was bold, aggressive, and dogmatic ; 
and he frequently quarrelled with Winthrop, be- 
cause that statesman would not hack dissenters 
with his harsh hatchet, but was cautious, and tem- 
porizing, and conciliatory, alike from temperament 
and from discipline. He was always chosen dejouty 
when Winthrop was elected governor ; and on sev- 
eral occasions he held the chief office himself. "He 
was a man of sound sense, sterling integrity, and 
uncompromising faith. He was rigid in liis reli- 
gious opinions, and urged the strictest enforcement 
of the sedition laws. He considered that the vari- 
ous opinions that were struggling to manifest them- 
selves from time to time tended to licentiousness ; 
and he was desirous that his epitaph should be — 
' I died no libertine.' "t To paint him in a word, 
Dudley was an upright and downright man — a 
" piece of living ju&tice." 

Sir Harry Vane did not tarry long in New Eng- 
land; arriving in 1635, he went home in 1637 to 
lend his name and brains to the dawning revolu- 
tion, and to carve his spirit on the marble of the 
ages. But short as was his sojourn on the west of 

c Hutchinsou, vol. 1, i>. 40. 

t See his Sonnet in Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 134- 



412 THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 

tlie Atlantic, he stayed long enough to achieve wide 
honor and to leave plain traces of his genius. He, 
too, was a Pilgrim, and " it is a singular fact in the 
history of New England, that, among her pioneers, 
were such men as Vane, well born, well bred, and 
able to command a splendid career at home."* 

"Sir Henry Vane the younger," remarks Ban- 
croft, "was a man of the purest mind, and a states- 
man of the rarest integrity, whose name the progress 
of intelligence and liberty will erase from the rubric 
of fanatics and traitors, and insert high among the 
aspirants after trujth and the martyrs for libert3^ 
Almost in his boyhood he had valued the ' obedience 
of the gospel' more than the successful career of 
English diplomacy, and he cheerfully 'forsook the 
preferments of the court of Charles for the ordinances 
of religion in their purity in New England.' "f 

"While here he was the warm friend of Roger 
"Williams and Anne Hutchinson ; and when he went 
home he carried back with him the same ardor for 
Christian truth which had impelled him to grasp 
hands with Winthrop in the wilderness. He had a 
heart, and " he was happy in the possession of an 
admirable genius, though naturally more inclined to 
contemplative excellence than to action. He was 
happy, too, in the eulogist of his virtues; for Milton, 
ever parsimonious of praise, reserving the majesty 
of his verse to celebrate the glories and vindicate 
the providence of God, was lavish of his encomiums 
on the youthful friend of religious liberty. But 

«> Elliot, vol. 1, p. 170. t Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 383. 



THE CHAET AND THE PILOTS. 413 

Vane was still more liappy in attaining early in life 
a firmly-settled theory of morals, and in possessing 
an energetic will, which made all his conduct to the 
Tery last conform to the doctrines he had espoused, 
turning his dying hour into a seal of witness, which 
his life had ever borne with noble consistency to 
the freedom of conscience and the people. ' If he 
were not superior to Hampden,' says Clarendon, 'he 
was inferior to no other man ;' ' his whole life made 
good the imagination that there was in him some- 
thing extraordinary.' "* 

Bluff John Endicott was another of the famous 
characters whose names and fame are impressed on 
the vellum of colonial histor3^ He is said to have 
been perhaps the finest specimen of the genuine 
Puritan character to be found among the early gov- 
ernors. " He was quick of temper, wdth strong reli- 
gious feelings ; resolute to uphold with the sword 
what he had received as gospel truth ; and feared 
no enemy so much as a gainsaying spirit. He tore 
the cross out of the English flag, cut down the 'Maj- 
pole at Merry-Mount, rakish Morton's sometime 
den, published his detestation of long hair in a for- 
mal proclamation, and set dissenters in the pillor}-. 
Inferior to Winthrop in learning — in comprehen- 
sion to Yane — in tolerance even to Dudley — he 
excelled them all in the keen eye to discern the fit 
moment for action, in the quick resolve to profit by 
it, and in the hand always ready to strike."t 

^ Biincroft, lit smtea. 

t Hubbiucl, cited in Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 173, 171. 



414 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

These are a few of the central figures, the piv- 
otal men, of the first half dozen Pilgrim decades in 
New England. There are many more almost equal- 
ly eminent and worthy of immortal honor — Brad- 
street, and Hopkins, and Eaton, and the younger 
Winthrop. Here is an emharras des richesses, and 
neither time nor space serves to name the length- 
ened list of worthies who lent lustre and dignity to 
the colonial annals. The best of them were the 
peers of the first men of any age or country; and 
the worst more than met the requirements of the 
Latins in their rulers : " The Roman peojale," says 
Cicero, " selected their magistrates as if they were 
to be stewards of the republic. Proficiency in other 
departments, if it existed, they gladly tolerated ; 
but if such additional accomplishments were lack- 
ing, they were content with the virtue and honesty 
of their public servants."^^ 

The Pilgrim governors were at least all honest, 
and virtuous, and true ; and they would have j)leased 
those Thebans who made the statues of their judges 
without hands, importing that they Avere no takers, 
for these men too were guiltless of handling bribes. 
God blessed colonial New England rarely when he 
sent her such men as a benediction. But they are 
gone — Bradford, and "Winthrop, and Carver, and 
Dudley, and Vane, and Endicott. 

■ ' ' Woe the day ! 



How mingles mightiest dust with meanest clay." 
* Cicero, Orati Pro. Plan. 



EUEEKA. • 415 



CHAPTEE XXXII. 

EUREKA. 

" Like one wlio liad set out on his way by night, and travelled 
through a region of smooth or idle dreams , our history now arrives 
on the confines, where daylight and truth meet us with a clear 
dawn, representing to our view, though at far distance, true colors 
and shapes." 

Milton, History of England. 

When Great Britain, looking through the eyes 
of the Long Parliament in 1641, glanced across the 
Atlantic, she was surprised to see that the despised 
bantling of 1620 had, against all discouragements, 
staggered to its feet, and stood a nation, self-sus- 
taining, robust, independent. 

Already twenty-one thousand Pilgrims were per- 
manently seated in New England ;* fifty prosper- 
ous villagest peeped from the openings in the long 
unbroken forests. The steeples of forty churches 
pointed their white fingers to the sky.:]: The rude 
log-cabins of the first months of settlement had 
been replaced by well-built houses.§ Agriculture 
climbed the hill-sides. Commerce played by the 
sea-shore. Trade laughed and chaffed and dick- 
ered in the market-place. The spindle and the 

* Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 91. Mass. Historical Coll., vol. 1, 23. 
Neale's New England. f Johnson, Mather, Bancroft. 

t Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. 1, p. 246, et seq. 
§ Ibid., Bancroft. 



416 THE PILGEIM FATHEKS. 

loom nodded merrily to each other over their work, 
as they labored side by side in the fabrication of 
" cotton and woollen and linen cloth;" for manufac- 
tures were even thus earl}^ established in New Eng- 
land.* 

And the Pilgrims had a foreign influence. "When 
a Madeira merchant visited Boston in 1642, he told 
Winthrop that the West Indian Jesuits taught that 
the " New-Englanders were the worst of all heretics, 
and that they were the cause of the civil war in the 
British island, and of the downfall of Archbishoi3 

Laud."t 

The Pilgrims in England cordially recognized 
their kinship to the exiles. When the Parlia- 
ment held regal prerogatives, in 1641, the colonists 
were urgently advised to solicit the admission of 
their delegates to its floor. " But upon consulting 
about it," says Winthrop, " w^e declined the motion, 
for this consideration, that if we should put our- 
selves under the protection of the Parliament, we 
should then be subject to all its laws, or at least to 
such as the Commons might be pleased to impose 
on us ; which might be inconvenient, and prove 
very prejudicial to us."| And when, a twelve- 
month later, "letters arrived inviting the colonial 
churches to send representatives to the Westmin- 
ster Assembly of Divines, the same sagacity led 
them to neglect the invitation. The love of politi- 
cal independence declined even benefits. New 

* Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 119. f Felt, vol. 1, p. 481. 

X Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 25. 



EUEEKA. 417 

Eugla]id spoke almost as one sovereign to an- 
other."" 

The Pilgrims were singularly jealous of their 
franchises, and thej^ never neglected an opportunity 
to consolidate and enlarge their liberty. And now, 
since the days had come when England was rent 
by the demon of war, when the throne tottered to 
its fall, when exultant republicanism, speaking 
through the lips of Cromwell, shouted, " Sic semper 
tyrannis r as the head of a royal despot was struck 
off, the colonists had ample time in which to de- 
velop and define their rights. 

Thus, exciting and momentous as were the scenes 
enacted on the European stage, and deeply as the 
Forefathers were interested in the issue, they were 
not won to overlook their own home drama. They 
were busy at this very time in reaping the benefits 
of secure and liberal domestic legislation. A bill 
of rights was promulgated ; and under this, "though 
universal suffrage was not established, every man, 
whether citizen or alien, received the right of intro- 
ducing any business into any public assembly, and 
of taking part in its deliberations. Then Massa- 
chusetts, by special law, offered free welcome and aid, 
at the public cost, to Christians of any nationality 
who might fly bej'ond the Atlantic ' to escape from 
wars or famine, or the oppression of their persecu- 
tors.' Thus the fugitive and the downtrodden were, 
by statute, made the guests of the commonwealth. 
Pilgrim hospitality was as wide as misfortune."!- 

* Biiucroft, vol. 1, pp. 41G, 417. f Bancroft, iibi sup. 

18* 



418 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. 

This noble legislation was but the forerunner of 
a yet more significant act. In 1643, after several 
prior ineffectual essays, the four chief colonies of 
New England clasped hands in a confederacy.* 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plym- 
outh, by solemn and free agreement, became the 
" United Colonies oe New ENGLAND."t The Dutch 
Republic was the model of this union ;;j: and the 
reasons which impelled the Pilgrims to cement it 
are recited in the pream])le to the twelve Articles 
of Agreement : 

" Whereas, we all came into these parts of 
America with one and the same end and aim, 
namely, to advance the kingdom of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and to eujoy the liberties of the gos- 
pel in purity and peace ; and whereas, in our set- 
tling — by a wise providence of God — we are farther 
dispersed upon the seacoasts and rivers than was 
at first intended, so that we cannot, according to 
our desires, with convenience communicate in one 
government and jurisdiction; and whereas we live 
encompassed with people of several nations and 
strange languages, which may hereafter prove inju- 
rious to us or our posterity ; and forasmuch as the 
natives have formerly committed sundry insolences 
and outrages upon several plantations of the Eng- 
lish, and have of late combined themselves against 
us ; and seeing, by reason of these sad distractions 
in England, which the Indians have heard of, and by 

* Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. IGO. Palfrey, Hubbard, etc. 
t Hutchinson, Winthrop, Felt, 
t Ibid., Palfrev, Elliot, Bancroft. 



EUREKA. 419 

wliicli they know Ave are hiudered from that humble 
way of seeking advice or reaping those comfortable 
fruits of protection which at other times we might 
well expect ; we hereby conceive it our bounden 
duty, without delay, to enter into a present consoci- 
ation for mutual help and strength in all our future 
concernments ; tliat, as in nation and religion, so 
in other respects, we be and continue one."* 

The old Hindoo dreamed that he saw the hu- 
man race led out to its varied fortune. First, he 
saw men bitted and curbed, and the reins went 
back to an iron hand. But his dream changed on 
and on, until at last he saw men led by reins that 
came from the brain and ran back into shadowy 
fingers. It Avas the type of progress. The first 
was despotism ; the last was a government of ideas, 
of morals, of the normal forces of society.! The 
New England Confederation was the forerunner of 
a mightier union ; and when Liberty saw it, she 
cried, " Eureka !" and thanked God. 

The machinery of the league was very simple, 
very sensible, and very effective. The colonies were 
co-equal. Each appointed two commissioners, who 
formed a directory, wliichx was to hold an annual 
session. The commissioners were empowered to 
assemble more frequently if necessity pressed ; and 
they could deliberate on all matters Avhich were " the 
proper concomitants or consequents of confedera- 
tion.":}: " The affairs of peace and war exclusively 

- Hubbard, p. 46G. Col. Rec, etc. f W. Phillips. 

I Records in Hazard, vol. 2. "Winthroi), Hubbard, Morton. 



420 THE PILGBIM FATHERS. 

belonged to them. They were authorized to make 
internal improvements at the common charge, as- 
sessed according to population. They too were the 
guardians to see equal and speedy justice assured 
to all the confederates in every jurisdiction ; but 
each colony carefully reserved its respective local 
rights, as the badges of continued independence ; 
so that, Avhile the commissioners might decree war 
and levy troops, they had no executive power, but 
were dependent on the states for the execution of 
the plans they matured and voted."* 

Two bodies of colonists were rigidly excluded 
from this union. Gorges' pioneers, beyond the Pis- 
cataqua, were not admitted, because " they ran a 
different course" from the Pilgrims, "both in their 
ministry and in their civil administration." Provi- 
dence and Ehode Island were shut out, partly be- 
cause they were not esteemed sufl&ciently strong 
and settled to add strength to the league, and also 
because they were regarded as the haunts of heresy 
and fanaticism.t It was thought that the confed- 
eracy, in order to be effective, should be homoge- 
neous. On that basis it was launched ; and, sur- 
viving " the jealousies of the Long Parliament, it met 
with favor from the Protector, remained safe from 
censure at the restoration of the Stuarts," and 
walked buoyantly on, scattering its benefactions 
on the right hand and on the left, until James II. 
vacated the New England charters, in 1686. | 

* Bancroft, nt antea. 

\ Hubbard, Hazard, Hutcliinson, Mortou, Bradford. 

t Hist. Coll., Col. Records, Elliot. 



EUREKA. 421 

The colonial uiiioii was the crowning service of 
the fonnders of New England to humanit}^ Now 
they began, one by one, to descend into the grave, 
worn to early death by a toilsome grapple with the 
rough and grinding forces of nature. But in their 
footstej)s trudged their sons, succeeding to the 
same blessed inheritance of faith, and love, and 
godly energy.- 

* The lialf century which succeeded this act of union was sin- 
guharly checkered. In this time four momentous events occurred. 
The first of these, in point of time, was the persecution of the 
Quakers. The early advocates of this sect in New England dis- 
played little of the mild philosophy and statesmanlike benevolence 
of Penn and his modern disciples ; and, indeed, ' ' the first and 
most noisy exponents of any popular sect are apt to be men of 
little consideration." To this rule the first Quakers of Massachu- 
setts were no exception. They knew the public opinion of the 
province ; they knew the laws which were put into the statute- 
book to curb heresy ; yet they broke through the restraints of sen- 
timent, and contemned the laws — not mildly, but with harsh, 
violent, and often indecent obstinacy. Perseciition, under any 
circumstances, is wrong, and the theocratic principles of the Mas- 
sachusetts colonists were far from being either just or necessary. 
Yet granting all this, and it has still been well said that, "if the 
essential guilt of persecution would be aggravated when aimed 
against the quiet, patient philanthropist of to-day, it does not fol- 
low that it would be attended M'ith like aggravation, however wick- 
ed else, when the subject was the mischievous madman of two cen- 
turies ago, who went raving through the city reviling authority, 
inveighing against the law and order of the time, running naked in 
the streets, and rirdely interrupting divine service in the churches, 
as many called Quakers, of both sexes, did in 1656 and onwards. 
The duty of toleration stops .short of the permission of such inde- 
cency ; nor does it sufi'er men, for conscience' sake, or to gain a 
name like Abraham, to sacrifice their sons, as one of these Friends 
was proceeding to do in 1658, yhen the neighbors, alarmed by the 
boy's cries, broke into the house in time to balk the fanatic." 
Still, it miist be confessed that there was a better way than the 
magistrates of Massachusetts took, and one more efficient in curb- 



422 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

Travellers tell us that at Florence tliere is a rich 
table, worth a thousand crowns, made of precious 
stones neatlj inlaid, in whose construction thirty 

ing this fanaticism, tliau the pillory, mutilation stati;tes, and the 
death penalty ; and this Roger Williams proved in Khode Island, 
and the younger Winthrop demonstrated in Connecticut — in both 
of which colonies there was freedom of religious opinion, and yet 
there were few Quakers. 

That furious Indian war, known as "King Philip's war," oc- 
curred in 1675. It originated in the same deep-rooted feeling of 
jealousy and hatred — begotten of dispossession and imagined 
wrong — that caused the Pequod war. Massasoit died aboiit 1661. 
He was succeeded by his son Alexander, who was, on his death, 
succeeded by his brother Philip, the hero of the struggle. This 
sagacious chieftain saw that the whites were grasping ; that his 
corn-lands and hunting-grounds were rapidly being usurped ; that 
rum was poisoning his warriors ; and he panted for revenge. So 
he gave his days and nights to the organization of a conspiracy. 
"He spared no arts ; he lived but for one purpose, and that was 
to unite the Indians, split into numberless clans, into one body, 
for the destruction of the encroaching i^ale-faces." Philip was 
largely successful, and the ensuing conflict was bitter, doubtful, 
and iDrolonged. But eventually civilization and discipline tri- 
umphed. The great sagamore was slain, and peace once more 
brooded over mutilated and wailing New England — peace insured 
by the definitive subjection of the Indian tribes. 

In 1683, James II. abrogated the Massachusetts charter ; three 
years later. Sir Edmund Andros arrived, armed with the king's 
commission to take iipon himself the absolute government of New 
England. Andros at once commenced to play the despot. He 
shackled the press ; he imprisoned men for their religious opin- 
ions ; he endeavored to get possession of the charter of Connecti- 
cut — which, however, was hidden in the "charter-oak" at Hart- 
ford, a circumstance which has made the tree immortal ; He de- 
nied the colonists the most common ci^'il rights, and asserted the 
highest doctrines of arbitrary taxation. The colonies were ripe 
for insurrection, when, in 1688, news came of the landing and cor- 
onation of William of Orange. Instantly Andros was deposed, and 
flung, broken and dishonored, out of New England. In 1691, 
King William granted Massachusetts a new charter ; but in this 



EUEEKA. 423 

men Avere employed daily for fifteen years. The 
Pilgrim Fathers were twice that time in carving 
out and inlaying New England with churches, and 

.le reserved the right of ajjpointing a colonial governor, allowed 
appeals to be made to the English courts, freed all Protestant 
L-eligious, and confirmed the annexation of Plymouth to Massachu- 
setts — an annexation which Pljmouth had decreed in 1690. This 
charter robbed the colonists of sevei-al prerogatives which had be- 
tokened independence, and was continued in substance until the 
dawu of the Revolution. The same policy was pursued through- 
out New England. 

It was in the years 1691-2 that what has been called the -'Sa- 
lem witchcraft epidemic" occurred. In that age the belief in 
witches was general and strong. In 1644:, '5, and '6, England hanged 
fifteen jjersons accused of witchcraft in one batch at Chelmsford, 
sixteen at Yarmouth, and sixty in Suffolk. In Sweden, in 1670, 
there was a panic about witches ; and in one town, Mahra, seventy 
persons were charged with this offence, and spite of their protesta- 
tions of innocence, most of them were executed. Fifteen children 
were hung on their own confession ; and fifty others were con- 
demned to be whipped every Sunday for a twelvemonth. Even so 
late as 1697, five years after the Salem troubles, seven persons 
were hung in Scotland as witches, and that too upon the unsup- 
ported testimony of a single child eleven years old. 

New England, then, was not alone in her belief in witches, or 
in her punishment of them. She merely shared the oi^inion of 
siich cousi;mmate scholars and noble thinkers as Sir Thomas 
Browne and Sir Matthew Hale. Many things combined to increase 
this belief. James I. had piiblished a book on demonology. Books 
containing rules for binding witches were in wide circulation. 
The practice and the opinion of centuries substantiated these 
phantoms. And the recent excitement in Sweden and England 
was certain to cause a ripple in America. Men's minds were thus 
prepared for an epidemic. As early as the year 1688, a case of 
supi^osed witchcraft occurred in Boston. An old half-witted Irish 
woman was charged with having bewitched the children of John 
Goodwin, and she was soon hanged. The witches then quit Bos- 
ton, and in 1691-2 appeared at Salem. Children began to act 
oddly, getting "into holes, creeping under chairs, and lettering 
foolish speeches" — all of which were esteemed as tokens of be- 



424 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

free schools, and printing-presses, and manufac- 
tures. Think of their task. " That gore of land, a 
few hundred miles wide and long, which lies be- 
tween the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic ocean, and 
seems to have been formed of the leavings and frag- 
ments after the rest of the continent was made, 
whose ribs stick out past all covering; which has 

vvitcliment. Inquiries were at ouce and everywhere made for 
witches. The childreii accused at random. This woman was 
said to be a witch, and that man. Salem was aghast. Startled 
women passed from house to house, repeating and enlarging every 
idle tale. Soon the excitement was unprecedented. Fasting and 
prayer failed to exorcise the "spirits." Then the witches were 
imprisoned, tried, condemned, executed. A reign of terror com- 
menced. All lived in fear ; accusation was equivalent to proof ; 
there seemed no safety. Many, spurred by fear, acknowledged 
themselves to be witches when accused, thinking thus to save 
their lives ; others hastened to complain that they weie bewitched; 
and only those who avowed themselves to belong to one of these 
two classes could be sure of life. Still the panic spread. Ando- 
ver was infected. New England at large began to shudder. The 
executioner was busy. And it was not until Januarj', 1692, that 
the panic began to abate . Nineteen persons had been hung ; one 
had been pressed to death ; many had been condemned ; hun- 
dreds had been imprisoned. So remorseless, so cruel is panic. 
But the excess cured itself ; the reaction was great ; men began to 
lament the part they had played ; and some made open confes- 
sion in church of their grievous fault and weakness. The infat- 
uation grew perhaps from the tricks or the craziness of the ' ' be- 
witched " children ; perhaps from the folly or the superstition of 
their parents. Whatever its cairse, its effects were sad, and they 
are pregnant with warning. 

It is sometimes said that these doings sprang naturally from 
the theologj' and temper of New England. Rather, they were 
directly counter to both. Thej' were a weak and foolish imijorta- 
tion from Europe ; and they prevailed in New England only for a 
short season. Soon her sons outgrew such folly ; and nowhere in 
Christendom was the jiopular revolution against witchcraft so 
speedy and complete as in the Puritan colonies. 



EUEEKA. 425 

sand enough to scour the world ; where there are 
no large rivers, but many nimble little ones, which 
seem to have been busy since the flood in taking 
exercise over rifts and rocks. This was their field 
of action. The only indigenous productions were 
ice, Indians, and stunted trees. Trading and com- 
mercial adventurers had essayed to effect a settle- 
ment in vain. The soil was too hard even for In- 
dians and rovers. It was apparently set apart for 
a wilderness, and it had peculiar aptitudes for keejD- 
ing man away from it. Its summers Avere short, 
its winters were long, its rocks were innumerable, 
its soil was thin." Yet the Pilgrims entered and 
subdued this waste, making it to bud with churches 
and to bloom with schools; cultivating it to the 
sterile hill-tops; dotting the landscape with neat 
farm-houses, factories, mills, the evidences and the 
tokens of a ripe, full civilization. 

But the fierce struggle with nature left its scars 
upon the Pilgrims, and it has marked their chil- 
dren. They had to seize and impress into their 
service every help. This begot the inventive fac- 
ulty, and the habit of looking at every thing from 
the angle of its utilit}^ This it was which strung 
factories on every stream-side, as gold beads are 
hung on a silver cord; which used every drop of 
water a dozen times over in turning wheels before 
it was suffered to run, weary and fretted, to the sea ; 
which sent the little feet toddling to the woodpile 
to pick up chips; which made labor-saving ma- 
chines, those gnomes whose cunning fingers were 



426 THE PILGEIM FATHERS. 

to work up the black earth and the hard rock into 
gohlen grains. 

" Looking, therefore, at civilization in New Eng- 
land, we see a people beginning without aristocracy 
or hierarchical forms. We see the leading men 
among them educated and honorable ; the working 
men devoted to agriculture and owners of the soil. 
AVe see all resisting the incoming of a state church, 
persistently opposing a distant but domineering 
court; and, singularly enough, through nigh two 
centuries of savage and civilized war, steadily refu- 
sing to organize a standing army, trusting to the 
native valor of the mass. Thus the commonalty 
educated themselves by daily practice in self-gov- 
ernment, until, at this present time, rulers there are 
simply lay-figures for show-days." 

" The Pilgrims were readers. Drunkenness, 
pauperism, filth, and dilapidation, nowhere abound- 
ed. They were thrifty, and industrious, and frugal ; 
and so, though the land was poor, they lived in 
comfort. Money was hard to get, and carefully 
spent ; no man lavished it, or lent it except on good 
security; yet nowhere else was there such a con- 
stant contribution for the relief of suffering or the 
cure of secular and religious ignorance; nowhere 
else Avould men more quickly risk life and health to 
serve a fellow. As there was no aristocracy, so 
there was no inferior or pariah class, excej^t when, 
at an unguarded moment, negro slavery crept in 
for a time. But servitude was so palpably contrary 
to the genius and principles of the Pilgrims, that it 



EUEEKA. 427 

was banished as soon as the mind and conscience 
grappled with it ;" for the corner-stone of New Eng- 
hmd was religion, and the top-stone was honest, 
self-respecting, well-paid, and skilled labor. Reli- 
gion and labor begot that spirit which has tamed 
the continent, cheered it with churches and schools, 
set the busy spindles humming and the shuttles 
flying, plunged into the earth and into the sea, run 
over the prairies, talking by lightning from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific, until the whole land where 
men are intelligent, industrious, and free, seems 
singing and smiling at its daily work. 

The Pilgrim Fathers literally obeyed the injunc- 
tion of the great German poet — the}^ knew the aim 
and reason of yesterday ; they worked well to-day 
for worthy things, calmly trusting the future's hid- 
den season, and believing with unquestioning faith 
that their children Avould eat of the fruit of the tree 
which they had planted in a sterile soil and under 
wintry skies. Patient in waiting, they never hur- 
ried ; they did not dig up their seed every twelve 
hours to see whether it had sj)routed. Without 
haste, they were also without rest ; and in their 
treatment of causes, they never paused to worry 
and fret about effects ; for they knew that justice 
was the best policy, and that the steady every-day 
bravery which vaunteth not itself is more than a 
match for the Hotspur valor which presumes that 
any cause is good which is desperately defended. 

The Pilgrims were men of conscience; and this 
they carried with them into work and into states- 



428 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

mansliip. Quincy Adams once, iu a liappy moment, 
called New England " the colony of conscience." 
It Avas a religious plantation, not an essay for trade. 
" He that made religion as twelve and the world as 
thirteen had not the sj^irit of a true New England 
man." " Religion was the object of the Pilgrims ; 
it was also their consolation. With this the wounds 
of the outcast were healed, and the tears of exile 
were sweetened," 

Puritanism has been finely called religion strug- 
gling for the people — evoking, iu the logical se- 
quence of events, political equality. " Those pe- 
culiar outward emblems, which were its badges at 
first, were of transient duration ; like the clay and 
ligaments with which the graft is held in its place, 
made to be brushed away as soon as the scion is 
firmly united. The spirit of the Pilgrims was a 
life-giving spirit ; activity, thrift, intelligence, lib- 
erty, followed in its train; and as for courage, a 
coward and a Puritan never went together. ' He 
that prays best and preaches best ivill fight best;' 
such was the judgment of Cromwell, the greatest 
soldier of his age." 

From any enumeration of the elements of the 
early colonial felicity, purity of morals must not be 
omitted. "As Ireland would not brook venomous 
serpents, so would not that land vile livers." One 
might dwell there " from year to year, and not see 
a drunkard, nor hear an oath, nor meet a beggar." 
The consequence was wide-spread health, one of 
the chief promoters of social happiness. 



EUEEKA. 429 

As for the soil, it was owned by tlie colonists. 
It was bonglit and paid for. The little farms, the 
straggling villages, the slowly-growing towns, were 
the absolute private property of their occupants ; 
and in a time of unusual commotion, when their 
settlements, for which they had done and dared so 
much, seemed menaced with subversion — seemed 
liable to be converted into a receptacle for all the 
spawn of England — the Pilgrims assumed to decide, 
standing on their own grounds, who should be wel- 
comed among them as fellow-citizens, who should 
be treated as guests, and who should be bidden to 
depart, never to return under the heaviest penalty. 

Yet " on every subject but religion, the mildness 
of Puritan legislation corresponded to the popular 
character of the Puritan doctrines. Hardly a Euro- 
pean nation has as yet made its criminal code as 
humane as was that of early New England. The 
Pilgrims brushed a crowd of offences at one sweep 
from the catalogue of capital crimes. They never 
countenanced the idea that the forfeiture of human 
life may be demanded for the protection of mate- 
rial interests. The punishment for theft, burglary, 
highway robber}', was far more mild than the pen- 
alties imposed even by modern American legislation. 
Domestic discipline was highly valued; but if the 
law was severe against the child who was undutiful, 
it was also severe against the parent who was faith- 
less. The earlier laws did not decree imprisonment 
for debt, except when there was an appearance of 
some estate which the debtor would not produce. 



430 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

Even the brute creation was not forgotten ; and cru- 
elty to animals was a civil offence. The sympathies 
of the colonists were wide ; a regard for Protestant 
Germany was as old as emigration ; and during the 
Thirty Years' war, the Pilgrims held fasts and offer- 
ed prayers for the success of the Saxon cause" — 
crowned with the gospel. 

But the glorj^ of the Pilgrim Fathers was their 
faith. They trusted God, and acted. The secret 
of their strength and success was the open Bible 
and the family altar. They were men, and there- 
fore not infallible. They sometimes erred griev- 
ously, and walked limping and awry ; but they 
always meant right, and with God's word as a lamp 
to their feet, they could not stray and grope far or 
long from the sunlight. To much that the Pilgrim 
conscientiously believed, and with his whole heart 
accepted, the present age. has grown careless; we 
are lukewarm or indifferent upon some points which 
he esteemed vital ; but it is small credit to us, if we 
are tolerant of error simply because we care little 
for truth. In former times New England was not 
latitudinarian ; and, clad in her sparkling snow, 
crowned with her evergreen pine, the glory of her 
brow was justice, the splendor of her eye was lib- 
erty, the strength of her hands was industry, the 
whiteness of her bosom was faith ; for the Pilgrims 
were men of absolute conviction. Moral earnest- 
ness was the key with which they unlocked the 
treasure-house of success. They were always true 
to their highest conceptions ; and they could say 



EUREKA. 481 

as Paul said to Agrippa, " I obeyed the heavenly 
vision." 

Yet they were not visionaries, but they made 
that fine distinction between material nature and 
spirituality: "giving to Caesar the things which 
are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are 
God's." Thus it was that, though they were the 
most practical of men, they were also the most spir- 
itual — wedding a parados. 

The curse of our age is materialism. We kin- 
dle only within the sphere of material interests and 
pursuits. On higher subjects we are as cold as an 
ice-field on the breast of Alp. There is an apothe- 
osis of dirt. Men do not half believe in what they 
cannot see, and feel, and handle. They group 
about them the tokens of their skill — steam-en- 
gines, and telegraphs, and seAving-machines — and 
worship these as the ultimate good, saying, " See, 
these are the realities of life." 

The Pilgrim spirit protests against this tend- 
ency. It comes to remind us that the controllers 
of the present, the moulders of the future, are not 
the babblers who plead for an unreal realism ; that 
they are not the heaviest brains of the epoch, but 
the heroes of religious earnestness, men inspired 
by drinking from the spiritual springs, men who go 
forth to fight like the red knight of Odessa, with the 
cross emblazoned on their shield, and with Christ 
buried in their hearts. Behind intellect there must 
be a ground-swell of religious earnestness, else brains 
are a snare, and useless. Rousseau, and Voltaire, 



432 THE PILGEIM FATHEES. d 2^ 1 ^- h- 

and Pascal, do not mark the ages. Name them any- / 
where, and scores of vacant eyes will ask j^oii, "Who 
are they ?" The Luthers, the Calvins, the Ridleys, 
the Brewsters, shake the world, seize all hearts, and 
educate the centuries, because they were fired by 
conviction, and built for God. 

This is the lesson which the story of the Pil- 
grims teaches us. Let us heed it; and then, clasp- 
ing hands with the martyrs and apostles, we too 
may j)ress forward with our " garlands and singing- 
robes about us," and by battling for Christ, insure 
for ourselves in the long hereafter a blessed rest 
and a fragrant memory. 



^X-^^^^'t^'T^^ 



